If you asked me today what my favorite movie is, I’d have to say “I Can Only Imagine” — the true story of Bart Millard and the Christian band, Mercy Me. If you’ve seen it, you know his grandmother would always say things like, “Mercy me… Lord, have mercy.” It’s a great movie. I highly recommend it.
But I’m thinking about mercy for a different reason today.
I’ve said, “Lord, have mercy.” I bet you have too, even if it was just in your thoughts. Calling on God’s mercy isn’t new. We have multiple examples of it in scripture as well as real life. In Luke 18, the blind man heard Jesus was passing by and cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Luke 18:38). The people standing by tried to quiet him but he cried out even louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And verse 40 says, “So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him.”
Did Jesus call the man because he was loud and insistent? It might appear so but that’s not the reason. Jesus stopped because the man called on the covenant.
The word mercy in the old covenant is “hesed” in Hebrew. It means kindness, lovingkindness, mercy, goodness, faithfulness, love, and acts of kindness. The Complete Word Study Bible says, “This aspect of God is one of several important features of His character: truth, faithfulness, mercy, steadfastness, justice, righteousness, and goodness.”
Think about Lamentations 3:22, “Through the Lord’s mercies (hesed) we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.” It’s definitely His mercy that has kept me alive. Knowingly and unknowingly, I have called on His mercy many, many times. But this is exactly what God wants us to do— it’s why Jesus stood still when the blind man asked for mercy.
In Deuteronomy 7:9, we are told, “Therefore know that the Lord your God, His is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.” God wants to to show us mercy. He wants to bless us. Deuteronomy 8:18 says, “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant…”
The entire covenant of God is based on His mercy.
I mean, think about it, it’s the sole reason God sent Jesus to earth for us! “…at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:12-13).
Praise God for verses like this: “But now…”
Kenneth Copeland said, “We have to bring ourselves into covenant thinking.” In other words, we need to call upon HESED. When we plead the blood of Jesus, we are calling on the covenant of God. We are essentially saying, “Father, remember your covenant!”
His “hesed” (His blood covenant of mercy) endures forever!
And the good news is you can call on mercy (the covenant) for yourself AND for others! Remember the Syrophenician woman who cried out for her daughter (Matthew 15:22) or the father who cried out for his son (Matthew 17:15)? Both asked for HESED: “Lord, have mercy…” They called on the covenant and God helped them.
This encourages me so much— for my life, and for the lives of those I love dearly. The word I want you to learn, meditate on, and use regularly, is the word HESED. It’s so much more than mercy. It is the lovingkindness of God who establishes, keeps, and helps those who are estranged from His covenant. To call on HESED is to call on the GOD OF MERCY.
Psalm 139 uses this word twenty-six times to proclaim God’s eternal love and kindness.
God isn’t running from His covenant. He’s looking for those who will activate faith in it! So remember this word. Use it often. Use it in faith. I am confident Jesus will stand still for you too.
