Christian, do you celebrate both God's mercy and His judgement? So many see the verse "God is love" (1 Jn. 4:8), and then neglect to account for God's other attributes.

Our God is merciful. If He was not, none of us would be saved. For, "He did not save us on the basis of works we've done in righteousness, but according to His mercy" (Tit. 3:5). How blessed we are that, in our sinfulness, God would show us mercy and grant us the gift of eternal life!

Likewise, our God is just and righteous and rightly metes out just judgement against all unrighteousness. If God was not to judge, mercy would not be necessary. But God must judge because He is just. Is it not right that He should judge sin and those who commit it? And how would we know what mercy was if not for God's justice? Thus we should sing His praise for His judgement, because it reveals to us our need for salvation as well as revealing His mercy in granting us that very same salvation.

Let us therefore, brethren, sing God's praises for His mercy and judgement!

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Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotions

Evening, September 12

"I will sing of mercy and judgment." Psalm 101:1

Faith triumphs in trial. When reason is thrust into the inner prison, with her feet made fast in the stocks, faith makes the dungeon walls ring with her merry notes as she I cries, "I will sing of mercy and of judgment. Unto thee, O Lord, will I sing." Faith pulls the black mask from the face of trouble, and discovers the angel beneath. Faith looks up at the cloud, and sees that
"'Tis big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on her head."

There is a subject for song even in the judgments of God towards us. For, first, the trial is not so heavy as it might have been"; next, the trouble is not so severe as we deserved to have borne"; and our affliction is not so crushing as the burden which others have to carry. Faith sees that in her worst sorrow there is nothing penal; there is not a drop of God's wrath in it; it is all sent in love. Faith discerns love gleaming like a jewel on the breast of an angry God. Faith says of her grief, "This is a badge of honour, for the child must feel the rod"; and then she sings of the sweet result of her sorrows, because they work her spiritual good. Nay, more, says Faith, "These light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work out for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." So Faith rides forth on the black horse, conquering and to conquer, trampling down carnal reason and fleshly sense, and chanting notes of victory amid the thickest of the fray.

"All I meet I find assists me
In my path to heavenly joy:
Where, though trials now attend me,
Trials never more annoy.
"Blest there with a weight of glory,
Still the path I'll ne'er forget,
But, exulting, cry, it led me
To my blessed Saviour's seat."
Christian, do you celebrate both God's mercy and His judgement? So many see the verse "God is love" (1 Jn. 4:8), and then neglect to account for God's other attributes. Our God is merciful. If He was not, none of us would be saved. For, "He did not save us on the basis of works we've done in righteousness, but according to His mercy" (Tit. 3:5). How blessed we are that, in our sinfulness, God would show us mercy and grant us the gift of eternal life! Likewise, our God is just and righteous and rightly metes out just judgement against all unrighteousness. If God was not to judge, mercy would not be necessary. But God must judge because He is just. Is it not right that He should judge sin and those who commit it? And how would we know what mercy was if not for God's justice? Thus we should sing His praise for His judgement, because it reveals to us our need for salvation as well as revealing His mercy in granting us that very same salvation. Let us therefore, brethren, sing God's praises for His mercy and judgement! ------------ Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotions Evening, September 12 "I will sing of mercy and judgment." Psalm 101:1 Faith triumphs in trial. When reason is thrust into the inner prison, with her feet made fast in the stocks, faith makes the dungeon walls ring with her merry notes as she I cries, "I will sing of mercy and of judgment. Unto thee, O Lord, will I sing." Faith pulls the black mask from the face of trouble, and discovers the angel beneath. Faith looks up at the cloud, and sees that "'Tis big with mercy and shall break In blessings on her head." There is a subject for song even in the judgments of God towards us. For, first, the trial is not so heavy as it might have been"; next, the trouble is not so severe as we deserved to have borne"; and our affliction is not so crushing as the burden which others have to carry. Faith sees that in her worst sorrow there is nothing penal; there is not a drop of God's wrath in it; it is all sent in love. Faith discerns love gleaming like a jewel on the breast of an angry God. Faith says of her grief, "This is a badge of honour, for the child must feel the rod"; and then she sings of the sweet result of her sorrows, because they work her spiritual good. Nay, more, says Faith, "These light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work out for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." So Faith rides forth on the black horse, conquering and to conquer, trampling down carnal reason and fleshly sense, and chanting notes of victory amid the thickest of the fray. "All I meet I find assists me In my path to heavenly joy: Where, though trials now attend me, Trials never more annoy. "Blest there with a weight of glory, Still the path I'll ne'er forget, But, exulting, cry, it led me To my blessed Saviour's seat."
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