Today's encouragement comes from 2 Samuel 24:14, where we read these words:
"And David said to Gad [the prophet], 'I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall in-to the hand of man.' "When faced with the options of dealing directly with God, or with fallen man-kind, David chose God. Why? Because he knew the Lord to be gracious and merciful. Also, he knew that man can be cruel and brutal. What an enlighten-ed perspective. Today, most Christ-hating sinners imagine themselves to be good, fair, and even-handed; while they think God is mean and unreasonable.
Actually, the exact opposite is the case. The Lord is good; He is slow to an-ger, and abounding in lovingkindness. Non-regenerate self-righteous sinners, on the other hand, are vicious and bestial—despite all their claims to “justice." Let us today—just like David did—cast ourselves entirely on *God's* mercy; trusting in Jesus, and not in man.
[Puritan quote of the day: "That sin is worse than affliction is evident because the greatest judgment God lays upon a man in this life is to let him sin without hindrance.” —Thomas Watson, in, "The Doctrine of Repentance"]
