Posted on 04/16/2020 4:05:40 AM PDT by metmom
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy" (Matt. 5:7).
God commends merciful people but condemns the merciless.
Scripture shows that those whom God blessed most abundantly were abundantly merciful to others. Abraham, for example, helped rescue his nephew Lot even after Lot had wronged him. Joseph was merciful to his brothers after they sold him into slavery. Twice David spared Saul's life after Saul tried to kill him.
But just as sure as God's commendation is upon those who show mercy, His condemnation is upon those who are merciless. Psalm 109:14-16 says, "Let the iniquity of [the merciless person's] fathers be remembered before the Lord, and do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out . . . because he did not remember to show [mercy]."
When judgment comes, the Lord will tell such people, "Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me" (Matt. 25:41-43). They will respond, "Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?" (v. 44). He will reply that when they withheld mercy from those who represented Him, they were withholding it from Him (v. 45).
Our society encourages us to grab everything we can for ourselves, but God wants us to reach out and give everything we can to others. If someone wrongs you, fails to repay a debt, or doesn't return something he has borrowed from you, be merciful to him. That doesn't mean you excuse sin, but you respond to people with a heart of compassion. That's what Christ did for you—can you do any less for others?
Suggestions for Prayer
If there is someone who has wronged you, pray for that person, asking God to give you a heart of compassion for him or her. Make every effort to reconcile as soon as possible.
For Further Study
Read Romans 1:29-31. How did Paul characterize the ungodly?
Studying God’s Word ping
> "If there is someone who has wronged you, pray for that person, asking God to give you a heart of compassion for him or her. Make every effort to reconcile as soon as possible."
A management office has planned similar load setting operations before. But this time a new load is ordered that weighs 15,000 lbs while the crane can lift only a maximum of 10,000 lbs. The management office is unaware of the oversight, the mismatch in crane lift capacity and weight of load.
The tradesman waiting for the load to be set down is aware of safety precautions and asks the load transporters if the load can be handled by the crane. The load transporters say they don't know as they are not aware of the crane's capacity.
The crane operator is asked if the crane is capable of setting the load in place. The crane operator responds the management office ordered the load to be set.
The management office is asked if the operation is safe and the management office instructs the tradesman to ask the load transporters and the crane operator.
Just as the tradesman figures out that the crane is not capable of setting the load, the cables snap causing great damage and great harm to the tradesman.
The management office blames the tradesman for not knowing and acting sooner.
The group's organization causing the harm blamed the person harmed for creating the damage. This is a secondary wrong to the original wrong.
The group causing the harm would rather blame the person harmed because otherwise they are exposed for having recklessly created a setting that was rigged for failure. They must insult, berate, smear the person harmed in order to evade accountability.
I believe the person harmed should go to the court and ask for justice, show clearly the members of the group were not knowing what they were doing and as a result the plaintiff was damaged in a situation where the plaintiff relied on the group attending to their responsibilities, that the court grant an award of damages and that the court's ruling set the record straight.
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Usually, an organization's top leader is held accountable or will investigate and find a culprit or culprits to hold accountable for damages.
The person that was harmed was left alone to deal with the harm caused. This person has a very forgiving heart and is not desirous of revenge. A settling of facts and justice is needed.
The question is how can the harmed person be made whole, how can healing be received without castigating blame to individual members of the group for their ignorance or to the group as a whole for failing to be responsible to ensure safety?
But there's more.
Unfortunately, the group is an organization where each member involved has adapted to run away from accountability and to point fingers at others. No person of the group wants to admit to having wronged the person that was harmed and they will each plead they were unaware.
The problem was the individuals of the group are correct to say they were unaware. They did not have knowledge as the parameters of the setting of the accident was new or unknown to them, although the setting seemed familiar from past experiences. They thought the operation was a familiar one but it wasn't. They created an operation they thought they knew how to manage but they erred in understanding the parameters of the operation for what they created and ended up causing great harm to a person they placed in the setting that they created.
Adding insult to injury, the person harmed was blamed.
How should the person harmed respond? How can they maintain a forgiving heart and still reconcile the wrongful events and untruths?
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