Mercy in Light and Darkness

WE, too, bless Thee, Almighty God! that Thy mercy endureth for ever.

For ever! then we came into this world in mercy.

For ever! then the strange story of man is told in mercy.

For ever! then all things are of Thy mercy, by Thy mercy, and in Thy mercy. And we, looking back upon our errors and faults, and lapses from righteousness, call to mind that “the mercy of the Lord endureth for ever.” From day to day may we go forward, upheld by this; until, looking death in the face, we may say calmly, even then, “The mercy of the Lord endureth for ever.” Lord God! show us Thy mercy in storm, plague, pestilence, fire, and darkness. Teach us these hard, high lessons of faith. It is easy to see Thy mercy in the things that are fair, in the flowers and fruits brightened by the glowing sun, in the sea sleeping in calm beauty; it is easy in these things to see the picture of Thy mercy. But, Lord God! when storms are about, when the fire rageth, when the earth heaveth, and the earthquake causes men’s hearts to tremble; when sickness comes, and death is at hand, then, Lord! teach us to see Thy mercy in sudden death, in frightful doom, in human woe in man’s crime, in disease, decay, corruption.

Lord! make us wise to see Thy mercy. O wondrous wealth of wisdom, for us to see Thy mercy! and yet, if wise and lowly-hearted we might.

Then should we sing Thy song in the light; and in the dark night sing a more touching strain. For this loftiest of all possible loving that comes from the lowliest of all possible living, we beseech Thee that, as little children, we may touch Thy hand, and be comforted, and what we know not, quietly wait for. We are but weak and lowly, and at times all life is dreary to us; but “Thy mercy endureth for ever.” Show us Thy mercy in the light of the sun and moon and stars, in the earth and its fruitfulness, in the destruction of tyrants and haughty kings, and in the uplifting of the oppressed. Teach us in the night to meditate upon Thy ways, until we too shall sing Thy song, from birth to death, “The mercy of the Lord endureth for ever.”

Pity us, when in Thy ways we cannot see mercy Oh, long-suffering God! wait for us awhile. The lesson is not easy, for we are full of self. Call us! cause us to come, that at last, in sunshine and in gloom, in the daytime and in the darkness of night, in the fulness of life and in the dulness of death, in plenty and in loss, in pleasure and in pain, in the full cluster and in the grapeless vine, in all things and through all things, we may see the mercy of God, and join the great grand thanksgiving, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, for His mercy endureth for ever.”

Of Thine enduring mercy hear these our supplications, offered in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,—AMEN,