“Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days!” (Psalm 90:14)
The lovingkindness and mercy of God are precious. When we find refuge in the mercy of God, we are abundantly satisfied and drink from the river of His pleasures (Psalm 36.7-8). It is because of the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is His faithfulness (Lamentations 3.22-23). Moses in Psalm 90 prays that we would be satisfied early with God’s mercy. If God makes known His abundant mercy and we are satisfied early in life, we will be a blessed people throughout our earthly lives.
True satisfaction in life is not found in anything or anyone on this earth. Moses understood what life is like when you are handed all that this world offers. He refused the privilege of being called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and chose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather enjoying satisfaction from the passing pleasures of sin (Hebrews 11.24-26). Solomon definitely enjoyed all that this world offers and found it empty (see Ecclesiastes 1.2). God put eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3.11), nothing temporal could satisfy them.
Even living a “moral, religious, or upstanding” life will not satisfy. Self-righteousness only complicates life to an infinitely greater degree. Our self-righteousness haunts us with questions like, “Have I done enough?” When I work, my labor is never finished. Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19.30)! He meant it. He satisfied the demands of God so that God might satisfy the needs of mankind. But only God is able to do this.
God has chosen to satisfy our deepest need …fill our deepest void with His mercy. I can never do enough. All things are naked and open before the Judge of the living and the dead. He will do right; I have not done right. But Jesus has done right; therefore I have life-satisfying mercy. Everything I need is found in Christ. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1) This is why when I believed on Christ, I rejoiced, do rejoice, and will rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.
There is nothing greater than the mercy of God made available through the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It provides untold comfort. Let me suggest three ways in which mercy brings joy throughout our days on earth.
- When we are young in our relationship with Christ (relatively speaking, of course) discovering what God’s mercy and lovingkindness mean provides intense happiness that should never wane.
- When faced with all kinds of adversity we recall that we always have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Adversity is a light affliction for a moment. It is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4.17).
- When facing the end of life mercy comforts us. Our dying words and thoughts might well be articulated as, “O, Lord, remember mercy for Jesus’ sake!”
Those who are young and full of vitality and dreams would do well to remember that they must find the mercy of God early on in life. Wisdom says, “I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me” (Proverbs 8.17).
If we are distracted by the cares of this life, we do well to remember that we labor for the food which spoils but not for the food which endures to everlasting life (John 6.27). If you do not live life according to an eternal paradigm, you live it without understanding your need for mercy. We must seek first the kingdom of God. Then everything we need will be added to us.
If we know that our time is peculiarly short on this earth, we understand the priority of eternity by the mercy of God. We cry out, “Satisfy me early with your mercy!” We pray for the mercy of redemption …a mercy leading to rejoicing. When my flesh and my heart fail, God will be the strength of my heart and my portion forever. That is how we abide satisfied.
Sun and Shield 