Song Showcase/Story Behind The Song – July 2009 – by Gordon Jensen

RIVER OF MERCY

Album: I’m Listening Lord

Words and Music by Gordon Jensen

“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” (I Chronicles 16:34)

Mercy is not an emotion, but an action that comes from the essential nature of God. Mercy flows out of love from the greater to the lesser, from the stronger to the weaker. Mercy is the foundation of forgiveness and is always a gracious gift. Every miracle Christ performed was, among other things, an act of mercy.

Mercy is a wonderful word, and mercy is a wonderful thing to those who have received it. To many, it is only an abstract idea.

Nearly a billion people live under the crescent and star of Islam. During a recent mission trip, I recall traveling with a ministry team over rough terrain on the way to Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria. We drove north from the coastal area, moving into the central region, containing a large Islamic population. Passing through a Muslim town filled with mosques and burka-wearing women, my blood ran cold as I spotted a stark, block building on a hill with the words Sharia Court of Appeals painted on its side. In a system that chops off the hands of thieves, guilty or merely accused, I shuddered to think what “mercy” might be like within those walls.

I thought about the tabernacle in the wilderness described in the book of Exodus. It contained an outer court, the Holy place, and the Holy of Holies behind the veil. The centerpiece of the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant, upon whose solid gold lid sat two cherubs crafted from the same precious metal. In between the cherubs, the tangible presence of God would rest. This was called the mercy seat. The high priest would enter the most holy place once a year on the day of atonement, offering a sacrifice. The blood of an animal was sprinkled on the mercy seat to atone for the sins of Israel, drawing the forbearance of God toward the nation. His guidance, provision, and protection, continued until the ritual was repeated. This established mercy filling the gap until Jesus, as the Lamb of God with his own blood, would avert the just wrath of Jehovah from sinners for all time.

Justice is righteousness, or what is right and fair. It is based on the universal law of cause and effect, action and consequence. God is a just God! Mercy triumphs over justice when God extends kindness and forgiveness that overrides just punishment, and in such cases, sidesteps the law of cause and effect. However, this mercy of God is only made possible by Christ taking on the justice of God. In other words, all punishment due mankind was placed solely upon Christ.

Jesus was himself the tangible expression of God's mercy to man. Mercy finds the lost, frees the slave, heals the sick, forgives the sinner, feeds the hungry, waters the withering, and comforts the brokenhearted.

One of the greatest pictures of mercy is that of water poured out on drought-stricken vegetation and livestock. Have you ever witnessed a withering house plant revived by a dose of overdue water? You can literally watch the life return as the plant raises its head again.

While living in the Sonoran desert as a boy, I vividly remember the danger of wandering too far from home without water. Our family spent time driving through canyons and around mountains amid rocks and sand, where only the hardiest plant and animal life survived in the scorching temperatures. On occasion, a trail of green could be spotted amid the valley a great distance away. Drawing closer, we could see more clearly, trees and vegetation, wildlife, and sometimes civilization. This line of green always straddled a river.

A river is a life-giving mercy in the desert, Jesus is a life-giving river! “...if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” (John 7:37) He told the woman at the well, “..whoever drinks of water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water spring up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14) Every spirit-filled and empowered believer in the lord Jesus Christ becomes what he was on earth, a river of mercy in a parched world. Every believer who walks obediently in his God-given assignment, is a flood of mercy to thirsty and dying people. “...God, who has reconciled us to Him through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” (II Corinthians 5:18) “...As he is, so are we in this world.” (I John 4:17)

You and I are appointed and anointed to be His hands, feet, and voice in the earth. We, the church, are His body today! The mercy of God is being extended to a drought-stricken world through us. We carry the water, the river flows in and through us. The cry and plea of each of us must be, “River of Mercy, Flow Through Me”!