Quick mercy

This week is on 1 Kings 13:1-6:

By the word of the LORD a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. He cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD: "Altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.' " That same day the man of God gave a sign: "This is the sign the LORD has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out."

When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, "Seize him!" But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back. Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of the LORD.

Then the king said to the man of God, "Intercede with the LORD your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored." So the man of God interceded with the LORD, and the king's hand was restored and became as it was before.

Put yourself in this situation for a minute. Imagine you're standing by watching it all unfold. You're in the temple where the leader of your country is taking part in a religious ceremony. Suddenly some weird guy from nowhere shows up, sent by God like a holy cruise missile to deliver a message to His target. He tells the king that his current policy will never work, and the king responds by demanding his arrest, but when he tries to point him out in the crowd, his arm freezes up and the altar falls apart right before your eyes. Then the king demands that the guy he just wanted to arrest now pray to God for mercy. And if that's not crazy enough, the guy prays for it, and the arm is suddenly OK again. What would you think?

I don't think any one of us has ever seen anything like that. Jeroboam was an evil king who tried to take control of the kingdom by splitting from God. He set up his own temples and basically formed his own religion, allowing anyone who wanted to be a priest to serve as a priest, regardless of who they were. God saw that he was gradually leading a bunch of people astray, and sent a guy to tell him to stop. Despite the huge display and miracles, Jeroboam refused to change. Yet, God must have known that when he healed his hand. Why?

The guy who delivered God's message was a true priest. He had God's character and mercy in his heart. He wasn't just there to do a job and take orders. He actually represented some of God's character. Jeroboam was destroying God's people and threatening the guy who delivered the message, and yet he still asked God to help him, and God still decided to give him another chance because of it. If the prophet guy didn't embody God's character, he would have probably responded like any employee who just takes orders without understanding the business "Sorry, sir, I am not authorized to offer refunds. Your arm is just going to have to stay as it is."

Not only is this story a bit of inspiration about how far we have to go to be good imitators of God, but it also really shows God's mercy. He would have been justified in killing Jeroboam for his sins. Even if he told him that his arm would be restored when he started behaving properly, that itself would have been more mercy than most people would have given, but God healed him instantly when he asked for it. He wasn't even given a night to think about what he'd done. God's mercy was instant and complete.

We really have to be interested in knowing what God wants for us. The prophet mentioned in these verses ends up dying later in the book (didn't mean to give it away) because he decides to throw out what God wants and go with what he wanted instead. We need to know and imitate God's beautiful personality to the point that we begin to find ourselves making the same sorts of decisions he makes. A lot of that is love and mercy.

We can also always find room to be more thankful for God's boundless love and mercy. Who forgives instantly like that? Who, after already being merciful, takes back a just penalty simply because the offender asks? Who, even knowing someone will screw up worse than they did in the first place, forgives completely and gives the transgressor a chance to do even worse things? God's mercy is almost incomprehensible to us.

So, this week, try a little instant mercy. Spot it like a scavenger hunt when it happens around you, and practice it in little pieces to understand God's greatness for offering it to you. If you're ever tempted to play god, that's the best way to do it!