1 Kings 21:29 (NIV) “Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.”

Sometimes, God's mercy on someone can get you quite upset. One such incident is recorded in 1 Kings 21 regarding King Ahab, who the Bible says did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. After a while of Ahab committing one gross sin after another including allowing his wife, Jezebel, to have a man killed just so that he could take his vineyard for himself, God sent the Prophet Elijah to decree judgement on him and on his household. Through Elijah, the Lord said that He was going to bring down disaster on Ahab and every last male that was connected to him in any way. When Ahab heard this, he tore his clothes and began to fast and to walk around in sackcloth (1 Kings 21:27). The Lord noticed and that's when He said the words in the verse above. King Ahab actually deserved everything and more of what the Lord originally said He was going to bring on him. But then Ahab humbled himself and in so doing, delayed the disaster that would inevitably come to his household.

We always want the "bad guy" to get what he deserves. Generally speaking, no one enjoys seeing mercy towards an evil person. The reason for that is because God created us with a sense of justice and when we see someone doing unjust things and purposely hurting others, we want to see that person pay for their crimes. That reminds me of the serial killer from New York City called “The Son of Sam.” He wound up killing six young people and injuring seven others with a .44 caliber revolver. They caught him and he is serving a life sentence in prison. Someone gave him a Bible and he wound up receiving Jesus. He is now a born-again believer and some years ago, a big Christian publishing company approached him about writing a book about his life. The idea was to reach people with the Gospel who normally would not come to church. But the book was never written because people found out about the plan and protested against it...Christian people, that is! I guess many people didn't agree with God's mercy on this redeemed sinner and didn't want to hear about how the Lord saved him.

We, as human beings (including Christians), usually want justice for others who do wrong things but mercy when it comes to ourselves. Take a very mundane thing, such as seeing a car speeding on a highway, for example. Don't you just wish that a police car was around to catch him? But you forgot about yesterday when you were late for work and were putting the pedal to the metal, as they say. Justice for others, mercy for us. That's how we like it. The truth is that we all have sinned and have the proverbial skeletons in our closets that we don't want anyone to know about. The truth is that we need God's mercy to be incomprehensible so that it will cover all the wrong things that we ourselves have done in our lives. The next time you are tempted to get upset at God's mercy toward anyone, just remember the great mercy that He has had on you and turn that moment into an opportunity to praise and worship Jesus!

Pastor Joey Vazquez