The Mercy Seat
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1 Chronicles 16:25-27
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and he is to be held in awe above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols; but the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his place.
Isaiah 49:6-7
6. he says: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." 7. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the servant of rulers: "Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."
I have had the overwhelming feeling the past several days that I can’t quite explain. It’s as if I’m the tiny, microscopic pin-prick dot on “google earth.” (For those of us not of the “computer age” it’s as if I were being viewed from a satellite way out in heaven and I’m this little tiny dot, smaller than an ant). It’s almost like I’m in this vortex or vacuum, sucking out the air from around me, because I’m surrounded by a million lights, then darkness, then just a blur and barreling down into some bottomless, endless, void. It’s not scary. It’s just that I feel as if I’m having trouble keeping on my feet. No it’s not that I’m “overmedicated.” Nor, I think is it that I have begun to go a little crazy – though that one may be open for debate! I believe that I have come to a place in my faith where I have reached a new level of understanding of the greatness and vastness of God.
I say a new level of understanding. Properly stated it should be a new level of understanding I will never be able to grasp even the mere essence of God. I will never be able to begin to explain or comprehend a single portion of one of His thoughts. I sip my coffee, and while I savor the taste, my mind and heart are drawn to a place far away where the coffee growers live, and the workers on their plantations and the conditions in which they live. And then a moment later, I think of my children, and all their goodness and strength. And then an instant later, of all the blessings in my life. . . . then, the people in Iraq . . . then . . . . on and on . . . and on in a whir. It’s almost as if I’m spinning in a circle.
And I am struck, by the words of a song I often listen to! I believe I may have approached the “mercy seat.” Dictionary.com defines it as: “The golden covering of the Ark of the Covenant, regarded as the resting place of God.” Wow. WOW! The mercy seat. To be in the resting place of God. To rest in God. God draws us each there. He wants us to rest there, in that mercy seat. As I think of such a place, I wonder – no, I anguish – How could I ever be deserving of that seat? How? And then I read the words of Isaiah and I remember that God has amazing plans for us! He bids us to that place, so we can begin to see our own greatness—from His perspective.
We are, after all, created in His image and likeness. I think too often we look in the wrong mirror! God has made us from His own essence. He has formed us for a specific purpose. He has loved us since before time began and He longs for us to live with Him. More—He yearns for us to run to Him – begging for that seat of mercy. The mercy that is beyond deserving, beyond imagining, beyond bounds, beyond anything we can comprehend. That’s where God’s grace is found.
My prayer today is that you rest awhile in the mercy seat. And revel in the grace of God that cannot be explained or contained.
Mary
