Depth of Mercy

What hope would be left for us if Peter had not denied Christ and all the apostles had not taken offense at Him, and if Moses, Aaron and David had not fallen? Therefore God wanted to console sinners with these examples and to say: ‘If you have fallen, return; for the door of mercy is open to you. ~ Martin Luther, Sermon on Genesis 38

Even before this poignant message on my desperate need of a Savior, the depths of my own sin that nailed Jesus to the cross, and the incredible, unfathomable love and mercy of our God, who provided me a substitution in the death of His own son, I was struck by the lyrics of this song:

Depth of mercy can there be
Mercy reaching even me
God the Just His wrath forbears
Me the chief of sinners spares
So many times my heart has strayed
From His kind and perfect ways
Making clear my desperate need
For His blood poured out for me

Give me grace Lord let me own
All the wrongs that I have done
Let me now my sins deplore
Look to You and sin no more
There for me the Savior stands
Holding forth His wounded hands
Scars which ever cry for me
Once condemned but now set free

Just like Christmas was different for our family this year, so much more so is the preparation for and the celebration of the reason Jesus was born: "to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!..."

As we prepared our hearts to celebrate His coming in December, we've been building traditions and praying through what it looks like to celebrate purposefully each spring the reason for which He came. New traditions are being built as we walk this out with our children now and in the years to come. We'll be observing the season of Lent as we search our own hearts, pray for clarity to see the darkness within and look toward the observance of His death on Good Friday and the great redemptive power of His resurrection on Easter Sunday.

So whether it is the patriarchs of old reminding me of my own short-comings or truly, the face I see in the mirror, I echo her words and prepare my own heart this week:

"the deeper I know the pit of my sin, the deeper I’ll drink from the draughts of joy.

Grief is what cultivates the soil for the seeds of joy.

She who knows her sins much, loves much, and the road to heaven is paved with the realization that I deserve hell. His rising will be all my joy, because I know it my bowels: He is all my hope. "

~Ann Voskamp

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. ~Romans 5:6-10

Depth of mercy can there be Mercy reaching even me...