If we See God’s Sovereign Mercy we will Worship Him and Fulfill our Responsibility

So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. Rom. 9:16

If we know God’s sovereignty, we will thank Him for His mercy, realizing that we are under His sovereign mercy today; when we see God’s sovereignty, we will worship Him for His sovereign mercy and we will give ourselves to Him to fulfill our responsibility today.

We see that God is sovereign and that all things around us and the things happening to us are of God’s mercy.

Thank the Lord for His mercy! We may think that today, with the advancement in technology, the accumulation of knowledge, and the development and refinement of culture, people are quite alright, and they can plan what they want to do, they can sort out their life, and they can take care of business in their own way.

But God is sovereign. He had mercy on us.

Before we became a believer, we may have been a good person, but one day we saw something of Christ; we saw a vision of our Savior who loved us and died for us to redeem us and to impart His life into us.

So we simply repented and believed.

We may have thought we were a good person with not too many sins and mistakes, but once the Lord shined on us, we realized how sinful we were.

The more the Lord shines on us in our time of fellowship with Him and throughout the day as we open to Him, the more we realize that we need God’s mercy.

We are like the sinners and tax collectors in the Lord’s time: we want to be with Him, we love to have Him among us, and He extends His mercy on us, receiving us and accepting us even as we are. What a mercy!

The Lord came and showed mercy to us. Even today as believers in Christ, the Lord still shows mercy to us.

We may think that now as believers, we are a little better than before, so we are more acceptable to God; however, we may have a failure, even a big failure, and we realize that it is all of God’s mercy.

We may disobey the Lord and make mistakes, but even these things, our mistakes and our disobedience afford the Lord an opportunity to show us His mercy and bring us salvation.

If we realize that it is of His mercy that we are saved and that we are still believers in Christ, we will simply worship God for His sovereign mercy.

It’s not of him who wills or who runs, nor is it of him who is more diligent to seek after God; it is all of God who shows mercy.

Day by day we need to receive His mercy.

Day by day we need to partake of His compassions, which are fresh and new every morning; great is His faithfulness.

When we see God’s sovereignty, we will worship Him for His mercy, and we will give ourselves to Him to cooperate with Him today to fulfil our responsibility.

Seeing that God is Sovereign and Merciful, we Worship God for His Sovereign Mercy

For to Moses He says, "I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion." So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. Rom. 9:15-16Rom. 9:15-16 says that God has mercy on whomever He will have mercy and He has compassion on whomever He will have compassion.

It is of God’s mercy that we are here today and it is of His sovereign mercy that we are where we are and who we are.

If we see and know God’s sovereignty, we will worship Him for His sovereign mercy.

We will thank Him for His mercy on us.

When we realize that God is sovereign and merciful, we will only thank Him for His mercy.

For example, our coming to the meetings of the church is of God’s sovereign mercy.

So many other people choose to do other things, being involved with and usurped by the things in the world, being engaged in worldly amusements and entertainment and wasting their life away, but here we are, under God’s mercy, being in the meetings of the church enjoying the Lord with the saints.

So many people are involved with sinful things and worldly things, but we desire to come together in the Lord’s presence, listen to His fresh speaking, seek His heart, and practice being one with Him.

Why are we this way? It is not merely because of our seeking heart or developing a habit of contacting the Lord day by day; it is because of His sovereign mercy.

Praise Him that we are under His sovereign mercy today!

As we participate in the meetings of the church we realize that our greatest joy is to be with the saints and our happiest nights of the week are the meeting nights.

Of course, Satan attacks and tries to disturb the peace in our family and distract us from going to the meeting, but it is of the Lord’s mercy that we can be in the church life today enjoying the riches of the all-inclusive Christ with the saints.

Sometimes we may be stubborn and unwilling to go to the meeting, but for some reason, there’s a desire in us to go and be there; this is of God’s mercy.

Sometimes in our Christian life we may fail and make mistakes, and we may not want to say sorry or repent; but then, in God’s sovereign mercy, our heart turns to the Lord (2 Cor. 3:16-17) and we behold Him, and we simply repent and confess our sins (1 John 1:7, 9).

This is God’s mercy to us.

So many around us are unwilling to repent and admit they are wrong, continuing day by day to live a sinful life away from God, but because of God’s sovereign mercy, our heart turns to the Lord and we repent and confess our sins.

How much we need to thank the Lord for His sovereign mercy!

Especially in the morning, as we set some time to be with the Lord and have fellowship with Him, we partake of His mercies and compassions, which are new and fresh every morning.

But whenever their heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Cor. 3:16-17 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9As we contact the Lord, He touches us concerning our mistakes, shortcomings, and sins, and we repent, confess, and experience a genuine cleansing.

Oh, what a mercy it is that we can repent before the Lord under His shining and be cleansed by His precious, prevailing blood!

What a mercy it is for us to be willing to repent, confess, and be cleansed by the Lord!

It is not of us; this is not of our zeal for the Lord or our seeking for Him, nor is it that we are better than others in any way.

Rather, it is all of God’s mercy, and we worship Him for His sovereign mercy.

We worship Him for inclining our heart to seek Him and for arranging all things to help us to turn to Him.

As we look to the Lord and consider what is happening in our life, we realize that we are under God’s mercy, for He is sovereign (Psa. 23:6).

We cannot but worship Him for His sovereign mercy and thank Him that every day, even right now, we are under His sovereign mercy!

Lord Jesus, we worship You for Your sovereign mercy. Thank You for showing us that You are sovereign in all things. Thank You for showing mercy to us. Your sovereignty reflects Your mercy. We are weak and sinful, even rebellious, but thank You, Lord, for inclining our heart to seek after You. Oh Lord, so many times we are far away from You, in our own things and in the things of this world, but You have mercy on us and cause us to turn to You! Thank You for Your sovereign mercy in softening our heart and making us willing to repent. Thank You Lord for giving us a soft heart. Thank You for putting in us a desire to turn to You and repent, confess our sins, and seek after You. We worship You for Your sovereign mercy in all things! Oh Lord, it is of Your mercy that we desire to be with the saints in the meetings of the church to enjoy Christ, listen to the Lord’s speaking, and seek after His heart. It is of Your mercy that we have an appetite for the word of God and we turn our heart to You to love You and behold You! Keep us under Your sovereign mercy all the days of our life!

Seeing God’s Sovereign Mercy in our Life and Fulfilling our Responsibility Today

...I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. Rom. 9:16

If we look back upon our past, we will worship the Lord for His sovereign mercy.

We did not set out to seek after God, but God found us and brought us to Himself, and He even brought us into the church life in the Lord’s recovery.

He arranged all things related to us: the family we were born in, our upbringing, the place we lived, and the time we were born. Nothing is by accident or by chance; everything was pre-determined by God.

Even before we were born, God selected us and predestinated us, and in time He arranged everything related to us.

Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me / All the days of my life, / And I will dwell in the house of Jehovah / For the length of [my] days. Psa. 23:6 For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers. Rom. 1:9He appointed all our days, all the places we are to be and for how long we should be there, and all the people who are around us.

Think about the time the Lord met you and saved you; He sovereignly arranged for certain people to come, a situation to arise, and your heart to be a little more open toward Him.

It is not because of our seeking or our doing; it is not of him who wills or who runs but of God who shows mercy (Rom. 9:16).

He has mercy on whomever He has mercy, and He has compassion on whomever He has compassion.

Everything that happens to us is because of God’s sovereign mercy.

As we see His sovereign mercy upon us and around us in our life, we will give ourselves to the Lord to fulfil our responsibility today.

On the one hand, He does everything in us and around us; on the other hand, we have a responsibility to fulfill.

We are called to serve the Lord in the gospel of His Son (Rom. 1:9).

Our serving the Lord is a matter of His mercy.

The gospel is a matter of God’s sovereign mercy.

Our going to preach the gospel, shepherd the new ones, and care for the new believers is all under God’s sovereign mercy, for it is God who arranges all things, He causes man’s heart to turn to Him, and He is the One who shepherds others.

We can testify that sometimes we try really hard to shepherd someone and we do our best to care for them, but there’s no response; however, as God’s sovereign mercy operates in that person and He exercises His sovereignty in his environment, his heart slowly turns to the Lord.

As we go on with the Lord and experience many failures, we realize that everything that happens to us is of God and that everything is of His sovereign mercy.

Even our desire to bear the responsibility to serve the Lord is not of us but of God and His mercy.

Because of God’s mercy in His selection of grace, we responded to the gospel when others did not respond.

Because of His mercy, we turn our heart to Him every day to seek His face and be infused with Him, while others do not do this.

Even our coming into the church life in the Lord’s recovery is of God’s mercy, not of us; some who were around us when we came in did not come with us and may not have remained, but we are here.

It is all of God’s mercy. He has mercy on whomever He will have mercy, and He has compassion on whomever He will have compassion.

Sometimes the Lord arranges for a brother to bring us on with Him in a definite way, but that brother may not go on with the Lord after that; this is of God’s mercy.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to [His] purpose. Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated [to be] conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers. Rom. 8:28-29We can only worship God for His sovereign mercy and seek to fulfil our responsibility before Him.

We simply depend on Him, for He is the One who does all things around us and who arranges all persons, matters, and things, to work out what He desires.

All things really work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28-29).

Because those whom He has called, these He also predestinated and even glorified to be conformed to the glorious image of Christ, the Firstborn Son of God.

We drag our feet day by day, being disobedient and rebellious toward the Lord, but His sovereign mercy still reaches us, touches us, and brings us on with Him.

Even reading this article or listening to it is not by chance; it is a matter of God’s mercy.

Our response to seeing His sovereign mercy is to worship Him, thank Him, and fulfil our responsibility to cooperate with Him for the fulfilment of His purpose.

What a mercy that we can see this, hear this, and do this!

We worship You, oh God, for Your sovereign mercy on us! We thank You for selecting us and predestinating us even before we were born. Thank You for arranging everything related to us so that we may come to know You and believe into the Lord Jesus. Oh Lord, we worship You and thank You for Your sovereign arrangement in our life. We simply respond to You by seeking to fulfil our responsibility to cooperate with You for the fulfilment of Your purpose. Amen, Lord, even such a seeking is of Your mercy, for You have mercy on whomever You have mercy. We come to You, dear Lord, to seek after You; in Your mercy and Your grace, we give ourselves to You to seek You and be one with You. We believe that all things work together for good, for You have arranged all things around us, and all persons, matters, and things work in Your sovereignty to help us be conformed to the image of Christ! Amen, Lord, we love You and we worship You!

References and Hymns on this Topic
  • Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ray Mulligan in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, pp. 244-245, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living in the Reality of the Kingdom of God (2024 October ITERO), week 5, Living under the Sovereignty of God and according to the Mercy of God.
  • Similar articles on this topic:
    Recognizing the sovereignty of God, a portion from, Our Urgent Need – Spirit and Life, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
    What is the kingdom of God? More via, Holding to Truth in Love.
    Sovereignty, Authority, a portion from, Conclusion of the New Testament, The (Msgs. 001-020), Chapter 11, by Witness Lee.
    Jesus Sympathizes with Us in All Things, via, Bibles for America blog.
    Living under the Sovereignty of God and according to the Mercy of God, a message by brother Albert Lim via, Heavenly Foods.
    God Chose Us unto Sanctification, via, New Jerusalem blog.
    The selection of grace, a portion from, Life-Study of Romans, Chapter 58.
    Testimony of A.E. – how Sweet and Shepherding the Fellowship in the Church Life is, via, Living to Him.
    Message 2: The World Situation in Relation to God’s Move on Earth (2), a video message via, LSM Youtube.
    God’s mercy, a portion from, Gospel of God, The (2 volume set), Chapter 2, by Watchman Nee.
    Evan Roberts, via, Lamb Follower.
  • Hymns on this topic:
    – Father, to us Thy mercy Thou hast shown, / In Thine own way; / Sinners like us as dear sons Thou wouldst own, / In love for aye. / Vessels of mercy, Thou didst us prepare; / Vessels of honor, we Thyself declare. / “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 stanzas 1-2)
    – God, we praise Thee for Thy mercy, / ’Tis so great and so profound! / In our weakness and our failures; / With its greatness it abounds. / We adore Thee! we adore Thee! / With such mercy we’ve been crowned! / How we marvel at this mercy / So far-reaching and so vast! / It has reached us, e’en the sinners, / And will ever hold us fast. / From this mercy, from this mercy, / What can cause us to be cast? (Hymns #26 stanzas 1-2)
    – Though our nature’s fall in Adam / Shut us wholly out from God, / Thine eternal counsel brought us / Nearer still, through Jesus’ blood; / For in Him we found redemption, / Grace and glory in Thy Son; / O the height and depth of mercy! / Christ and His redeemed are one. (Hymns #45 stanza 3)
About aGodMan

A God-man is a normal believer in Christ; the author of this article is one who is learning to be a normal Christian, a daily enjoyer of Christ, a living and functioning member in the Body of Christ. Amen, Lord, make us such ones for the building up of the Body of Christ!

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brother L.
brother L.
20 days ago

We need to worship God for His sovereignty. We should say, “Lord, I worship You for Your sovereignty because Your sovereignty reflects Your mercy. Lord, I am weak and sinful. Sometimes I am even rebellious. But I thank You, Lord, that my heart has been softened and is always willing to repent. Lord, I thank You for giving me such a soft heart.”…If you know God’s sovereignty, you will thank Him for His mercy. You will realize, even as you come to the meetings of the church, that you are under the Lord’s sovereign mercy. Consider how many people are involved with sinful things or with worldly things. But we desire to come together in the Lord’s presence, to listen to His word, to seek what is on His heart, and to practice being one with Him …Praise Him that we are under His sovereign mercy!

Life-study of Exodus, pp. 243-244, by Witness Lee

Stefan M.
Stefan M.
20 days ago

Before we were born, God selected us and predestinated us, arranging all things related to us so that we may be saved and come into the church life.

If we look at our life, we worship God for His sovereign mercy. It is not because of our seeking or our heart for Him; it is all of His mercy.

As we see His sovereign mercy, we just worship Him, thank Him, and seek to fulfill our responsibility.

Oh Lord, we worship You for Your sovereign mercy. Thank You for inclining our heart to seek after You. Thank You for arranging all things for us to grow in life and be conformed to Your image! We worship You and we thank You for Your sovereign mercy!

So-then-it-is-not-of-him-who-wills-nor-of-him-who-runs-but-of-God
brother N.
brother N.
20 days ago

I do not know if you are clear about this or not. Suppose there is a destitute person here with us. You love him and have pity upon him. You feel sorry for his difficult situation. If you did not love him, you would not suffer and grieve for him. But by doing so, you are having mercy on him. But such mercy is negative. Your mercy on him is in sympathy for his present condition. But when is grace accomplished? It is accomplished when this person is rescued today out of his poor condition to a new position, to a new realm and a new environment. Only then does your love to him become grace. This is why I say that mercy is negative and for today, while grace is positive and for the future. The future I am talking about is the future in this age, rather than the future in the coming age. I do not mean that the Old Testament speaks only about mercy. The Old Testament speaks about grace, too. It is not true that we no longer need mercy. No, we still need mercy. God was merciful in the time of the Old Testament, because His work was not yet completed. Therefore, the Old Testament was full of mercy. God showed mercy for four thousand years. But today, in the New Testament age, we have grace because the Lord Jesus has accomplished His work. He has come to bear our sins. Hence, what we have received today is not mercy, but grace. Hallelujah! Today is not a day of mercy, but a day of grace.

If there were only mercy, we could only have hope. In the Old Testament, there was only hope; hence, the Old Testament speaks of mercy. But thank the Lord, today we have obtained what was hoped for. There is no need to hope for it anymore.

Mercy comes from love and issues in grace. If mercy has not come from love, it will not issue in grace. Since it originates in love, it arrives at grace. In the Gospels there is the account of a blind man receiving his sight (Mark 10:46-52). When he met the Lord, he did not say, “Lord, love me!” or “Lord, be gracious to me!” Rather, he said, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” (v. 48). He asked for mercy because of his present condition, his present difficulty, and his present pain. He knew that if the Lord Jesus were to sympathize with him, He would not stop at showing mercy to him; He would surely do something.

Gospel of God, The (2 volume set), Chapter 2, by Watchman Nee

https://www.ministrysamples.org/excerpts/GODS-MERCY.HTML

Moh S.
Moh S.
20 days ago

Aaaaameeen!

Wow, brother, the sovereign God has appointed all our days and all the places we are to be!

Thank You, Lord! We praise You and worship You for Your sovereign mercy!

K. P.
K. P.
20 days ago

Amen dear brother!

Praise the Lord for his mercy! 

O Lord it is only by your sovereignty and mercy we are given to repentant heart to turn to you when rebellious and stray to worldly ways and entertainment.

We worship and Praise you Lord because we are here today because of your mercy.

Hallelujah!🙌😃

Claude Y.
Claude Y.
20 days ago

Amen Lord for Your sovereign mercy!

Thank You for keeping us under Your sovereign mercy.

Everything concerning us is a matter of God’s mercy.

We praise You for Your mercy towards us! May we continue to experience Your mercy each day!

Seni A.
Seni A.
20 days ago

Amen. Everything that happens to us is of God and His mercy.

Before we were born we have been predestined and arranged by Him.

We are weak, sinful and rebellious but we repent and desire to come together in His presence.

Thank You that we are under Your sovereign mercy

Richard C.
Richard C.
20 days ago

Dear brother, we worship God for His sovereign mercy!

Everything that happens to us is of His divine mercy – our being born, receiving the gospel and taking the way of the Lord’s recovery are of His sovereign mercy.

And when we fail and are stubborn, our repentance is of His mercy.

Thank You Father for Your great mercy today! Praise the Lord for such mercy!

Christian A.
Christian A.
20 days ago

Amen brother. Everything that happens to us is a matter of divine mercy.

The more we recognise God’s sovereignty, the more grateful we shall be for His mercy.

The more grateful we are, the more we will spontaneously bear our responsibility before the Lord.

It’s purely because of God’s sovereign mercy that our hearts are inclined to Him.

What a mercy that we are willing to repent, to confess and to be cleansed by the Lord.

Father, we worship & praise You for Your sovereignty.

M. M.
M. M.
20 days ago

To know this all-inclusive God is wisdom.

He brought us to this earth for His eternal purpose.

He is sovereign to do whatever He wants to do. Regardless of our rebellion and sin, He reached us by His mercy and gave us grace to realise and worship Him as per His will.

As rebellion and sinners, we were not worthy of His mercy to be saved from His wrath.

Praise the Lord for His Salvation through His mercy upon us.

Even our coming in and coming out safely in this dark world is because of His mercy. Praise Him.

A. D.
A. D.
20 days ago

Amen, our personal, private and intimate time with the Lord in the morning enables us to see and appreciate His mercy and sovereignty in our lives. Amen

RcV Bible
RcV Bible
20 days ago

This is God’s sovereign authority, which allows Him to have mercy on man according to His desire. Rom. 9:15 footnote 1 on, I.

Mercy refers mainly to an action taken in response to man’s wretched condition; hence, God’s showing mercy to man is outward. Compassion, however, refers mainly to an inward feeling that is expressed by groanings and tears; hence, God’s having compassion on man is inward. Therefore, compassion is deeper than mercy. Rom. 9:15 footnote 2 on, mercy

This indicates that God chose us that we might be vessels of honor to contain Him. God created man as a vessel to contain Him, and out of the many vessels He chose us to contain Him, the God of honor, that we might be vessels of honor. Finally, He makes known His glory upon us, the vessels, that we might become vessels of His glory (v. 23). All this is out of His mercy and according to His mercy; it cannot be obtained by our efforts. For this reason we must worship Him, and we must worship Him for His mercy! Rom. 9:21 footnote 1 on, vessel

Footnotes from, Recovery Version Bible

Sister Gail
Sister Gail
20 days ago

Sovereignty, mercy, grace, love… we struggle to define them, parse them out one from the other, creating a diagram of our God pointing to what is mercy, which is Grace, where is love, whilst all is sovereign. I can’t help thinking how God is smiling in amusement at our endeavors.

Saints, we are as teacups trying to contain the ocean. We can and should put our teacups together to share and augment and enjoy our understandings, our light. But it is still not the ocean, alas.

God does not require us to worship Him according to our own understanding. No. Yes He is sovereign, but I do not worship His sovereignty though I appreciate it. I worship Him. I worship this God who became a man to bear my sins, to die for me, to rise for me and to save me to be with Him forever. He knew all things beforehand. He is in every detail. And I deserve none of it. Yet, here I am.

I suppose the greatest question that can never be adequately answered nor understood is why? Why me and not that one or that one? If one answers “Well He is sovereign,” it hardly begins to explain this. It is a true dilemma.

Maybe I have to accept that God knows and I don’t. That He is sovereign over my not knowing. And more than that, does not want me to know so that, in faith, I can accept His mercy, trust His Grace, and embody His love. Amen saints. Love you all.

Mario V.
Mario V.
20 days ago

Praise Him!! We are under His sovereign mercy!!!

mariov-30jan
Jon H.
Jon H.
20 days ago

I enjoyed today’s reading I was humbled and grateful to the Lord for his merciful predestination