Author Thoughts Today – Mark Batterson’s “Double Blessing” – Day 4 of 5 – 080825
“Take the mercy of God, for example. The mercy God has shown you is as unique as your fingerprint. The writer of Lamentations said that God’s mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22–23). The Hebrew word for “new” doesn’t just mean “again and again.” It means “different.” In other words, today’s mercy is different from yesterday’s mercy, which is different from the mercy of the day before that.
If you want to fully appreciate God’s mercy, take out a calculator. Multiply your age by 365 days; then add the number of days since your last birthday. The total number of days you’ve been alive is synonymous with the different strains of mercy you have been shown. Each day’s mercy is a never-to-be-repeated miracle.
Let me push this envelope a little further.
There never has been and never will be anyone like you, but that isn’t a testament to you. It’s a testament to the God who created you. And the significance of that is this: no one can worship God like you or for you. When we sing a song like “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” we may be singing the same words, but we are singing a very different song.
God has been faithful to me in thousands of different ways. When I sing of His faithfulness, I’m singing out of my unique experiences. And so are you. If you don’t sing, the person next to you might not miss your voice, but God will. In fact, you are holding out on God. Why? Because your praise is irreplaceable! Like our praise that is uniquely offered to God, God’s blessings are uniquely fitted to us.”
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I did the calculator exercise, and I never considered how many days I’ve been on this earth – 26,827 give or take a few hours. That’s a lot of days. It’s a lot of mercies if you assume one per day. Hah! The number of mercies granted to me dwarfs that number. It’s a blessing to follow a merciful and patient God.
Peace! G.