Mercy; Truth; Righteousness; and Peace

Psalm 85:1-13 KJV

Lord, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.

Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.

Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.

Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.

Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?

Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?

Shew us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation.

I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.

Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.

Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.

Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.

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Verse 10 caught my eye this morning. Mercy and truth; righteousness and peace... I have seem some wonderful examples of this in the people around me. I have also witnessed just the opposite as well.

As the world seems to go wonkers around me my greatest hope for life in this world is to live the rest of it out in peace. I am tired of the greed; the jealousy; the anger that I witness so often. Yes, there is a righteous anger that impels us to aid those who are in desperate need because of various forms of persecution. The well-known Serenity Prayer reminds us there are some things that we can change and there are others that we cannot do anything about. Worrying and complaining about things we cannot change takes away time and resources from the things that we can change. There are some things we must just leave in the Lord's hands whether he works them by some miracle or through someone he has called and gifted to make changes that we cannot. 

Prayer for Serenity

God, grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time,

enjoying one moment at a time;

accepting hardship as a pathway to peace;

taking, as Jesus did,

this sinful world as it is,

not as I would have it;

trusting that You will make all things right

if I surrender to Your will;

so that I may be reasonably happy in this life

and supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

                                                             Reinhold Niebuhr

Live life in peace! -  Pr. J.