Beautiful Mercy

Based on 2 Samuel 22-24

"And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence." 2 Samuel 22:2‭-‬3

The beginning of this passage is really a beautiful Psalm about how God has preserved and delivered David out of the hands of his enemies. While David wasn't a perfect man, he certainly was a repentant man, and this kept him in the beautiful mercy of God:

"With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright."
2 Samuel 22:26

We've seen so many examples of how David showed mercy as God showed to him. He showed himself to be upright as God did to him also. David desired to have these qualities, just as we desire & strive to be Christ-like as well.

"The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation. It is God that avengeth me, and that bringeth down the people under me,"
2 Samuel 22:47-48

David gives God the glory for all his victories. He realizes how much we as humans need God. Without God, we can do nothing! There were also several other mighty men who fought on The Lord's side with David, and many of them are named specifically in Scripture. This shows that God not only prospered David alone, but God also multiplied David's efforts by giving him more valiant men to help him out!

"Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow."
2 Samuel 23:5

Even though many troubling things happened in David's family, he found favor with God in living a life of repentance and obedience. God had a covenant with David, and David found himself in the beautiful mercies of God! Here is one example of one of David's mighty men:

"These be the names of the mighty men whom David had: The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite: he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time." 2 Samuel 23:8

This man slew 800 at once! None of this could have happened without the power and favor of God! So many other men were mentioned, and they all did valiant acts. But again, even in David's not-so-valiant moments, God has merciful when true godly sorrow & repentance was shown...

David numbered all the people of Israel, but God did not want him to do this thing. It may not have been bad, but God didn't ask him to go through all that and take a count of every tribe. So, he found himself in a place of repentance once again.

"So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days." 2 Samuel 24:8

Could it maybe have been a distraction, or perhaps too time-consuming to go through all this to count every person? Maybe. But David humbled himself and knew he had to make things right.

"And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly." 2 Samuel 24:10

So, David was given a choice of 3 consequences, as spoken to him through a prophet. He chose to have 3 days of pestilence in the land. David also saw built an altar so the hand of the angel would be stayed from smiting with the plague any longer. Araunah the Jebusite said David could have all he needed to build the altar & sacrifice without owing him anything, but David insisted on paying the price:

"And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel."
2 Samuel 24:25

Thankfully, The Lord paid the ultimate price of sacrifice for us. But, are we willing to work toward a better relationship with God? The only thing we can give of any value is our heart. In getting into that beautiful relationship, we will find ourselves in the beautiful mercies of God, time after time, as David did!