Everything depends on God’s mercy; it’s all because of His mercy, not because of our seeking, pursuit, or intelligence, but because of His great mercy toward us.
God has sovereignly created us in His image and according to His likeness for us to be His vessels, His containers, so that we may contain Him according to His predestination.
All human beings are created by God to be vessels. His desire is that all men would cooperate with Him and open to Him, call on His name, and receive Him as life, content, and everything.
If we look around us today we can see that everyone is hungry and thirsty – they thirst for more and more and more.
They think that entertainment can satisfy them, but it doesn’t; they think that a car or a house or a family would fill the void within, but none of these things does.
There is a God-shaped vacuum in each and every human being, something within us that only God can fill and satisfy. And this God-shaped vacuum needs to be filled with God, otherwise man is a senseless contradiction!
Even after believing into the Lord, we still need to be freshly emptied of ourselves and freshly filled with God, otherwise we are empty and seeking to be filled with the wrong stuff!
God is the Potter; He has made us vessels of mercy to contain Him as the treasure, the content, and when we open to receive God, contact God, and contain and be filled with God, our life is full of meaning.
This is so wonderful! We are nothing else but a vessel; we’re not an inanimate and passive vessel but rather, we are a living vessel, a living container, to willingly choose God or willingly allow ourselves to be filled with all kinds of other things.
On His side, God has made us vessels of mercy unto honor and glory; on our side, we need to simply be open to the Lord to receive Him and contain Him and be filled with Him.
How can we do this? Do we need to be “more seeking” and “more pursuing” and “more spiritual” than others in order to contain God and be filled with God? Do we need to read more of the Bible, pray more, and go to more meetings in order for us to be filled with God?
None of these activities are wrong, but we need to realize that it is not of him who wills or of him who runs but of God who shows mercy; everything depends on God’s mercy.
Everything that we are by nature is fallen, corrupt, and sinful, and even our seeking after God is tainted with personal desires, personal preferences, and personal opinions.
It is all because of God’s mercy that we can seek after Him, we can know Him, we can receive Him as our life, we can experience Him, and we can enjoy Him as life in the church life with all the saints.
We are Chosen according to God’s Sovereign Mercy to be Vessels of Mercy to Contain God Himself
Our God is rich in mercy because of His great love toward us (Eph. 2:4).
We were dead in sins and offenses, without God in the world, not seeking God nor having a thought toward Him, but He, being rich in mercy, even while we were yet sinners, sent Christ to die for us, seek us out, find us, bring us back to Himself, and make us His sons.
God’s mercy reaches even further than His love; we became pitiful because of the fall, and we were dead in our offenses and sins; we needed God’s mercy to reach us.
Praise the Lord, because of His great love, God is rich in mercy to the extent that He saves us from our wretched position to a condition that is suitable for His love!
Hallelujah for this most far-reaching attribute of God!
When we see God’s mercy and realize it’s all because of God’s mercy, our heart reacts to His love, and we respond to Him.
God has chosen us not because we were better than others or because we are smarter than those around us; being a vessel of mercy is not the result of our choice but a result of God’s sovereignty.
Because of God’s sovereign mercy we have heard the gospel, we responded positively to it, and we have received God’s life; it is because of God’s mercy that we are vessels of mercy to contain God Himself.
God’s sovereign mercy is expressed in Him reaching out to us not only initially to save us and bring us into the church life, but even daily as He still reaches out to us wherever we are to bring us back to Himself, back to the enjoyment of God with all the saints.
It is of God’s sovereignty that He created us vessels of mercy to contain Himself; His sovereignty is the basis of His selection.
We can even say that our disobedience and being fallen afforded God’s mercy an opportunity, and God’s mercy brought us to His salvation; now because of His mercy we know God, we enjoy God, and we are being built up with all the saints.
We are no better than others; we are not smarter than others; we are not more zealous or pursuing than others; we are not more spiritual than others; we are not more willing or running than others.
We simply are vessels of mercy, containers of God who have received His mercy to be brought into a position where we’re qualified to enjoy God as grace and as love.
As vessels of mercy unto honor and glory, we were chosen by God according to His sovereign mercy, for He has mercy on whomever He will have mercy, and He will show compassion to whomever He shows compassion (Rom. 9:11-16).
Since our salvation, our growth in life, our going on with the Lord, our being built up together in the Body, and even our work for the Lord are all because of God’s mercy, what do we have to boast of?
There’s nothing for us to boast of. We are no better than anyone that is either saved or not saved; we simply are vessels of mercy chosen by God according to His sovereign mercy to receive, contain, and be filled with God as our content.
So we can rightly and genuinely tell the Lord,
Thank You Lord for Your great love toward us; You reached us in Your mercy and made us the object of Your love. We were dead in sins and offenses, but You loved us, You had mercy on us, and You made us the object of Your selection. Thank You Lord for Your sovereign mercy toward us; thank You for coming to redeem us, save us, and bring us into the church life to be filled with God as our content. Thank You for making us vessels of mercy to contain God as our content. We worship You, o God, for Your sovereign mercy, and we trust not in ourselves or in our power to pursue You but in Your mercy. Oh, ’tis mercy all, immense and free!
Seeing that Everything Depends on God’s Mercy and Bearing our Responsibility before the Lord
Why did we respond to the gospel when so many others didn’t? Why did we receive a word concerning Christ as life when others refused to receive it?
Why did we take the way of the Lord’s recovery when others drew back from taking this way? Why are we still here in the church life enjoying the Lord and pursuing Him both personally and with companions?
It is not because we are better than others, neither is it because we are more seeking, more intelligent, more spiritual, or more qualified than others.
Rather, it is all because of God’s mercy; everything depends on God’s mercy.
And His mercy is something we may not understand nor can we invite it or question it; He has mercy on whomever He wants to have mercy. Everything depends on God’s mercy.
Humanly speaking, if we will something, work to get it, and run to obtain it, we will have it; spiritually speaking, however, it’s not of him who wills nor of him who runs but of God who shows mercy (Rom. 9:15-16).
Even our serving the Lord is not of ourselves but of God’s mercy; if we would serve God in His New Testament economy, we need to know that it is wholly a matter of God’s sovereign mercy.
We all have a concept of what it means to serve God, but the climax of our usefulness to God and the goal of His selection is for us to be His containers, His vessels of mercy, so that His glory may be manifested.
If we want to serve God, before we do anything for Him, we need to learn one thing: everything is because of God’s mercy.
The one thing we can do, our unique responsibility in being useful to God and serving Him effectively, is to be His container, an open vessel of mercy, to express Him as the glorious content.
If we know God’s sovereignty, we will thank Him for His mercy, realizing that we are under His sovereign mercy; we will praise Him, thank Him, and worship Him for His mercy, and we will bear our responsibility before Him.
In God’s sovereign mercy our hearts are inclined toward Him, and because of His mercy to us, we seek Him day by day (see Jer. 29:12-13; Deut. 4:29; Isa. 55:6; Psa. 27:8; 105:4; 119:2; Heb. 11:6). Everything about us depends on God’s mercy.
Because of His mercy we open to Him, we turn our heart to Him, we enjoy Him, we take Him in by reading His word, we meet with the saints, we live Christ, we live the church life, and we serve the Lord.
The more we see that everything related to us is a matter of God’s mercy, the more we will bear our responsibility before the Lord; however, even our willingness to bear responsibility is not of ourselves but it is of God’s mercy.
Our responsibility before Him is that we cooperate with Him to be His container for Him to fulfill His eternal economy.
Even regarding His recovery, God has mercy on whom He will have mercy.
We are here in the church life in the Lord’s recovery not because we are in any way, shape or form better or more seeking or more intelligent than others; we are here because of God’s mercy.
We may know many other Christians who are better than us, having more knowledge of the Bible than us, and being more talented than us; however, because of God’s mercy we’re in the church life and they are not.
If we consider how the Lord brought us into the church life in the Lord’s recovery, we will worship Him for His mercy; everything depends on God’s mercy and not on anything of ourselves.
It is not because of our willing or running; it is not because of our seeking heart; it is not because of anything that we are or can do, but it is because of His mercy that we are here.
Our condition is changeable like the weather, our heart is deceitful, and we are changeable and fluctuating all the time, but God’s mercy can never change.
Concerning the gospel, the ministry of life, and the church life, we can testify that God had mercy on us; how we praise Him and thank Him for His sovereign mercy, and how we worship Him for His mercy!
Thank You Lord for making us vessels of mercy to receive and contain You as our treasure, our unique content. Thank You for inclining our heart toward You, causing us to seek after You, and bringing us into the church life because of Your mercy. It is because of Your sovereign mercy that we have received the gospel, we have Christ as our life, and we are in the church life today. Oh Lord, it is not because of our willing or running, and it is not because of loving and seeking heart that we are still here today. It is all because Your mercy. We depend on Your mercy. We praise You for Your sovereign mercy. We turn away from ourselves and from our circumstances and gaze steadfastly on You!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1184-1185, 100 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of Jeremiah and Lamentations, week 5, God as Our Sovereign Potter Making Us His Vessels, His Containers, to Contain Him.
- Hymns on this topic:
– ”In mercy I delight, not sacrifice,” / Thou hast declared; / Thru this Thy mercy, favor in Thine eyes / We all have shared. / ’Tis not of them that will nor them that run, / But of Thee showing mercy as was done. (Hymns #25)
– For Thy mercy we are grateful, / ’Tis so rich, so plenteous! / Thru Thy mercy in redemption, / Thou hast richly favored us. / If without this, if without this, / How could we be favored thus? (Hymns #26)
– All the world is under darkness, / Driven by the fallen soul, / And the enemy designing / Does the soulish life control. / Such we were till God, through mercy, / Caused His Son to dwell in us; / Now we fully come to know Him / In His church so glorious. (Hymns #1181)
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