9. "Mercy, Lord God, Have Mercy!" Psalm 31:9

Text:  “Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly (body).”

                                                                                                                     Psalm 31:9.

Good morning, Christian in sore trouble!  It is not by ‘chance’ or ‘accident’ that you have rested your eyes upon this Bible Lesson from God’s Word today, my friend.  We serve a Sovereign Lord God, Who knows to the very hairs of our head, every detail of our lives, and all that we are currently going through in this increasingly vile and sinful world of open depravity.  Read on and be encouraged from God’s Word, dear friend.

Dictionary Definition: Mercy - (noun)  Forbearance towards someone in one’s power; a good thing regarded as derived from God; a happy chance; a forgiving disposition; clemency; compassion for the unfortunate.  (The Chambers Dictionary, page 1005)

All things are under the power and Divine Authority of the Living Lord God Jehovah.  Nothing exists in all Creation which is not under God’s Holy power.  Therefore, as fallen sinners each of us desperately need to have God’s mercy bestowed upon us - otherwise we would be consumed in an instant by God’s Holiness, and our souls turned away into a Christ-rejecter’s Hell. 

God’s mercy to Hell-deserving sinners is granted when we are given faith to trust in the Sacrifice of Christ Jesus made at Calvary’s Cross.  Without God’s graciously given mercy, we would be utterly consumed indeed.

“The Lord is known by the judgement which He executeth; the wicked (unrepentant sinner) is snared in the work of his own hands.  The wicked shall be turned into Hell, and all the nations that forget God.”  (Psalm 9:16-17)

“I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish…I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent (turn from sin to serve Christ) ye shall all likewise perish.”          (Luke 13:3;5)

Adam fell into sin’s destructive pit through disobedience to his Holy Creator Lord God - Eve ate of the forbidden tree, encouraged Adam to follow suit; and they both died Spiritually on that very day, and according to God’s clear warning.

“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”  (Genesis 2:16-17)

Eve and Adam disobeyed the Lord’s command and, on that very day, the Spiritual part of our progenitors immediately died.  They became ‘fallen’ in sin; Spiritual communication and fellowship with their Creator Lord God was broken - death was introduced into God’s perfect Creation, and although Adam lived on, physically, until he was 130 years of age - Spiritually he had died on the day of his disobedience.

As mankind’s Representative Head, Adam plunged all of mankind to be born of woman into a fallen sinful, Spiritually dead, state.  That is why the Lord God had to send His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die on a cruel Cross to redeem, buy back, the souls of all whom the Father has elected to Salvation.  Outside of Christ’s Atonement Sacrifice, there is no Eternal Salvation.  We MUST be ‘born again’ of Him.

When quickened by God the Holy Spirit, the first thing the sinner’s soul does is to cry out to God for His mercy and grace.  God calls us with His irresistible grace, we answer with a cry of ‘Mercy!’, and the Lord God hears our cry and saves our souls.

Verse 9.  “Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble.  This first sentence pithily comprehends all that follows; it is the text for his lamenting discourse.  Misery moves mercy - no more reasoning is needed.  ‘Have mercy’ is the prayer; the argument is as prevalent as it is plain and personal, ‘I am in trouble.’”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 150)

Verse 9.  “Mine eye is consumed with grief.  Tears draw their salt from our strength, and floods of them are very apt to consume the source from which they spring.  Dim and sunken eyes are plain indicators of failing health.  God would have us tell Him the symptoms of our disease not for His information but to show our sense of need. (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 150)

Every true regenerate Christian has God, the Holy Spirit, living within us.  When (not if!) we sin therefore, we immediately and profoundly feel the grief we have caused God’s Holiness within, and this in turn causes us to grieve deeply.  Saved souls sin every day, but we cannot stay or wallow in sin too long; we cry out to the Lord to lift us a fresh out of the miry clay, and set our feet on the Rock afresh.  God hears our cry and sanctifies us anew.  Our fellowship with Him is immediately restored, and we find peace in Christ.  Praise His merciful Name!  Glory to the Lamb Who hears our cry!

Thought:  Verse 9.  “Yea, my soul and my belly (or body).  Soul and body are so intimately united that one cannot decline without the other feeling it.  We, in these days, are not strangers to the double sinking which David describes; we have been faint with physical suffering and distracted with mental distress; when two such seas meet, it is well for us that the Pilot at the helm is at home in the midst of the water-floods and makes storms to become the triumph of His art.” 

(C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 150)