Psalm 106:40-48

Have you ever had that one person in your life that, try as you must, they just continue in their destructive behaviors? Sometimes we get mad at them because it is hard to watch those that you love destroy themselves by poor choices but invariably it turns to pity as they reap the consequences of their derelict behavior.  Some people refuse to learn and there is not much you can do but pray that they come to their senses and make better choices.

I see that in God as well, not only in His dealings with the Israelites, but also in His dealings with us. Even in our disobedience, God’s mercy and lovingkindness are renown.

Do we deserve His love? No! Never did! But He is love and cannot deny Himself.

The Apostle Paul put it to Timothy this way:

“If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.”
‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭2‬:‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/116/2ti.2.13.NLT

We can count on God to be God! He remembers His covenant and His promises which find their ‘Yes’ and ‘Amen’ in Christ, and Christ is available to all. In Jesus, we see the heart of the Father on full display, and it was Jesus who said:

“But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭44‬-‭48‬ ‭NLT‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.5.44-48.NLT

Our treatment of others is not to be contingent on their treatment of us. We are to be true to ourselves and just because someone else is behaving badly does not release us from being like our Father in heaven. Why are we going to let someone else’s poor behavior cause us to be contrary to ourselves? We may have a reason to get upset, but certainly not a right to. Jesus said that we are to ‘give as freely as we have received;” we are to “forgive as we have been forgiven”; and we are to show mercy as we have received mercy. In fact, the mercy we give is the mercy we get, so don’t be afraid to ‘pay it forward.’ The golden rule still applies to treat others as you would have them treat you.

This is very difficult for ‘score keepers’ but at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself who you want to be like - your Father in heaven or the person who mistreated you. We have all heard that ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’.

Tend to yourself and be true to who God has created you to be. Some take a little longer to catch it. Patience, long suffering and mercy are needed. We must not forget the times others have walked in that toward us.
 
Consider these words in Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, as Polonius, a counselor to the King Claudius, gives some advice and a bidding farewell to his son:

“Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell: my blessing season this in thee!”

Great advice! I think Shakespeare knew the Lord ?