There Is Mercy For Our Weaknesses

Support Hope In Him Today here.  Welcome to another episode of "Hope and Him Today" with your host, Gary Miller. In today's episode, we dive deep into the sections of Doctrine and Covenants. It's a spiritual guide that reminds us constantly about God's mercy and love, even when we are weak or face challenges in our faith journey.

God's mercy towards our weakness is a profound sentiment expressed in the 14th verse of the 38th section of Doctrine and Covenants, which is the focus of today's episode. Discussing God as a being of mercy, we begin to comprehend our complex yet loving relationship with the divine. Gary shared his personal experiences with gaps in belief and understanding but reiterated the importance of continuous study, exploration, and curiosity about religious texts, even when one struggles with doubts and disagreements.

Gary emphasized God's merciful nature when we falter or feel weak. He presented that over internal criticism and self-abuse, we must remember the mercy God extends towards us. Our weaknesses are not a platform for judgement, but a path to experiencing God's mercy more profoundly. Gary emphasized how this mercy should also be reflected in how we treat ourselves and others, showcasing how we can practically apply our religious beliefs to daily life situations.

In conclusion, this episode invites listeners to picture Jesus as a deity extending mercy towards our weaknesses and countering the devil's allegations of inadequacy. By accepting God's abundant mercy and applying it within our lives, we soothe self-directed negativities and extend forgiveness and understanding to others. Listen to the episode of "Hope and Him Today" as we learn, grow, and traverse our spiritual journeys together, remembering God's merciful nature.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Music.

(00:05):
Hey there, friends. Welcome back to the show. My name is Gary Miller.
This is Hope and Him Today, and good to be with you on a rainy day.
I wonder if we can hear the rain in the background. It'll sound like ASMR or something, right?
I want to take you to Doctrine and Covenants today, section 38.
I'm not a Doctrine and Covenants expert. As you know, I'm a guy that reads triple
combinations over and over and over again.

(00:26):
I buy a new one each time, I mark it up, and I give it to a member of my family,
or soon, now that I've covered all of them, I'll be just giving keeping it on
the bookshelf in my own collection or giving it to other people.
You know, say, hey, here, read the triple combination.
But I'm not a doctrine and covenants expert. I can tell you that there's parts
of this thing in D&C that I highlight a lot. And I go, man, that's just beautiful.

(00:48):
And there are other parts of my Baptist brain just goes, nope.
I'll just be candid with you. Just I can't. My Bible brain does not get around
it. You go, well, you should just, you know, you should just believe it.
Well, there's some of this stuff. I'm just not there yet, friend.
Maybe you've learned to believe everything. And that's amazing.
And you are truly floating with a halo. I'm not there yet.
But man, some of it is just amazing. And even those things that I don't agree

(01:10):
with or that my Bible brain doesn't wrap around, I tell you,
I just keep reading them.
Every morning, I just keep reading this stuff.
Man, I'll take the person that's got some questions, some doubts or some things
they disagree with that keep reading it every day versus the person that says
they believe it but don't stay entrenched in it.
People that say they believe it but don't really read it much.
Give me the person that's still struggling or wrestling or doesn't believe some

(01:33):
things yet, man, I want to be friends with them, fellowship with them, and study with them.
Have those people show up to think, just talk about how much they believe all
of it, and it's just all perfect, and everything's great, and we're just wonderful.
Man, just get away. I can't even be around you. It drives me crazy.
I find those people insufferable, but that's not the topic of the message.
Dr. DeCovenants 38, verse 14, here's what it says, but now I tell it unto you

(01:58):
and you are blessed, not because of your iniquity, neither your hearts of unbelief.
For verily some of you are guilty before me, but I will be merciful unto your weakness.
And I want to draw attention just specifically to, I will be merciful unto your
weakness. There's some areas in your life, friend, where you are weak.

(02:20):
There are areas in my life For we are weak in a macro sense.
All of us are weak in this flesh, right?
Carnal man, natural man, boy, we got some weaknesses, all of us.
But each one of us have some areas that are specific to us.
Some of us might be weak in our patience or weak with our anger or temper or

(02:45):
weak in a particular area of addiction or weak in our faith in a particular
thing that we're believing for or weak in our love walk, weak in our prayer life.
We might be just weak in our nutrition. We might be weak in our work.
I mean, there's a lot of things that we can be weak in.
But obviously, in the more direct context here, there are places where you and

(03:06):
I, we still mess up and we still have sin.
And whenever we're thinking about the picture of Jesus that we want to keep
in our mind, who is this Jesus that we talk about, that we sing about,
that we preach about? Well, it's right here.
The Jesus that we should picture is a Jesus who is merciful unto our weakness.

(03:30):
So what does that tell me? Number one, we need to remember God's orientation to us is one of mercy.
You say, well, but I got all these verses about wrath and judgment and punishment and all that.
Okay, yeah. Yeah, God has more than one characteristic trait.
But the outward manifestation of the ministry of Jesus Christ from,

(03:54):
from the jump to the finished work of Calvary to the resurrection and sitting
at the right hand of God is one of mercy.
So that tells me that we need to remember that. So when you,
when the devil, who is the accuser of the brethren, right?
And wants to tell you about how terrible you are and how much you've messed
up and, and, and how you're not doing well and how you shouldn't even try.

(04:14):
Well, friend, let me tell you, That's not coming from God. God is merciful unto our weakness.
Well, man, Gary, I've made this mistake over and over again.
I keep trying to stop, but I keep messing it up again. I keep trying to stop
and I keep messing it up again.
Well, God is merciful unto your weakness. Are you still trying?
Are you willing to try again? If you are, well, God's willing to work with you

(04:36):
and he is merciful unto you. Keep going.
I messed up five minutes ago. Great. Well, you know what? A new moment started right now.
Amen. But also, if we remember this and we're thinking he's merciful unto us,
then we also need to be merciful unto ourselves.
Goodness gracious, we're so hard
on ourselves. Man, we don't need an enemy half the time. We've got us.

(04:58):
We don't need Satan to accuse us. We're too busy accusing ourselves.
I've said it many times, and I'm sure you've heard other preachers say it.
If we could broadcast our thoughts that we think about ourselves and people
could see how we talk to ourselves, as Dr.
Shad Hempsteadler would say, right? What to say when you talk to yourself.

(05:20):
If they could see the way we talk to ourself, they would think we were in an abusive relationship.
And often we are. We're in an abusive relationship with ourself,
with our own words and our own judgment and our own condemnation of ourselves.
Friends, if God Almighty is merciful to you, I think you and I can be merciful to ourselves.

(05:43):
And finally, you know where I'm going. That means we should be merciful to other people.
Friends, I haven't apprehended this yet personally in my practice all the time,
24 hours a day, seven days a week.
There are people just in my life and in your life that drive me right up a tree.
There are people that just make my head spin. Being around them just makes me twitch.

(06:04):
But friends, we have to be people that extend mercy.
And you know what? Let's not keep it vague talking about people.
The best place to start extending that mercy is right in your own home.
How about extending some mercy to your spouse?
Yes, your spouse has some weaknesses. It's not your job to point them out.
It's your job to apply mercy to them.

(06:26):
You have weakness. It's not your spouse's job to point out your weakness.
It's their job to apply mercy to it. Your kids have weaknesses.
It's not your job, mom and dad, to shout them down for their weaknesses.
It's to apply mercy to their weakness. Amen?
Do it right in your house, and then extend it out from there.

(06:46):
You're never going to be really merciful to the person sitting behind the pew
that drives you crazy or that says the crazy things in class that make you want to get up and walk out.
If you can't figure out how to be merciful to the person sitting across from
you at the kitchen table.
So we need to do this with ourselves and with other people and remember that
God is doing it to us because he says, I will be.

(07:07):
It does not say in Doctrine and Covenants he might be. It says right here that he will be.
If we are going to default to any image of God, friend, let us please default
to the image of mercy, the character of mercy.
Accept it, receive it, remember it, and apply it as generously as we can in

(07:28):
our lives to ourselves and to others. I'll see you next time.
Music.