Mercy and Justice do go together

We home-schooled all our children for most of their pre-tertiary years. It was a real blessing for us to see how they grew in their areas of interest and at their own pace. As I have said it before, they are not perfect (and neither are we as parents) but we had the opportunity to speak into their early character development. During these days we needed to exercise a lot of MERCY with JUSTICE. I was reminded of this when I read this verse from the bible chapter of the day.

Hosea 12:6

So you, by the help of your God, return; Observe mercy and justice, And wait on your God continually.

The people of Israel are reminded again in this chapter of God's history with them. This verse is beseeching them to return. Two significant words are included that speak aloud but can be missed entirely. Mercy and justice.

Yes, God is just, but He is merciful first. There is order in the way things work. The sin of mankind makes any move away from God a move away from His MERCY. JUSTICE requires Him to give us up to our sins and their consequences. Move back to God, or RETURN, as the scripture says, and you will experience God's MERCY immediately. Wow!

Father, help me understand your mercy and justice well.

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