I recently went on vacation and did a lot of driving. We drove to Indiana and Kentucky and Ohio and back to Michigan. During all of these travels we encountered a hoard of cicadas, traffic back ups, close calls and a few moments of near panic! As I was reflecting on all these things I was drawn to think about the mercy of God. Every moment of our lives we are cared for and watched over by a God who loves us and cares for us. This does not mean that He never allows us to experience any kind of hardship. On the contrary, He often lets us go through difficulties of various kinds to develop us into His likeness. But regardless of the complexity of the trial we face, His mercy is constant. It was present in every mile we did not have hardship. It was present while I was slamming on the brakes to stop quickly because of the guy in front of me who cut me off. It was present while we were in traffic for 30 minutes because in the finite wisdom of man they took 4 lanes down to 2 over the Ohio river. It was present in our arrivals and in our leaving. It was present always and new every morning. It was present in the sunshine miles, and in the miles driven in pouring rain. No matter where we went and what we did His mercy was present with us.
That is the thing about the mercy of God. If we only think about it when things go well we might begin to think the mercy of God means things will only go well for us. Since His mercy is ever present with us, we can hope that this light and momentary trial is producing something greater. Praise God for His mercy.
