Micah 7:18 “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.”
The Christmas season has come and gone, but the season for mercy never expires.
Have you heard the story about the little boy who played the innkeeper in his church’s Christmas pageant? He was a big kid for a 9-year-old. Mentally slow and awkward, he was often the butt of jokes from the other kids. He wanted more than anything to be a part of the upcoming Christmas play. And somehow, he ended up landing the role of the innkeeper. It was an easy part. All he had to do was brusquely turn Mary and Joseph away when they knocked on the door of his inn.
And that’s exactly what he did. “No room!” he thundered. In perfect fashion. But then as he watched the poor couple walk away dejected and disheartened, his eyes began to fill with tears. With an emotional flush of the impromptu, he cried out, “Come back! I changed my mind. You can have my room!”
You can have my room. It’s what Jesus says to all of us, you know. He left his inn of splendor to make room for you. For me.
In spite of all the times I’ve messed up, times I hurt other people, pushed my kids too hard, insisted on my own way, God’s mercy has never turned me out in the cold. Every time I’ve been insensitive, judgmental or self-centered, he’s offered me another knock at the door. No way do I deserve it. But that’s what makes mercy so powerful. It undoes us, then changes us from the inside out. It offers second chances and third chances and even seven times seventy chances if needed.
No wonder the prophet Micah, when seeing how the undeserving Judah was being given another chance, cried out, who is a God like you? The leaders had abused their power and brought untold misery on the people. Yet the God who delights to show mercy had compassion on them and forgave their sins (Micah 7:19).
God’s mercy never runs out. And it’s a good thing, because we will never outgrow our need for it. Friend, do you hear Jesus saying to you, You can have my room?