Because we experience God’s mercy everyday, most of us grow to take it for granted.

The following is an abbreviated version of a story from R.C. Sproul’s book The Holiness of God. While his words are better, I cut some detail to fit my self-imposed word count parameters.

“I had the assignment of teaching a freshman Old Testament course to 250 students at a Christian college. On the first day of class I went over the course assignments carefully. This course required three short papers. I explained . . . that the first paper was due on my desk by noon the last day of September. No extensions would be given except for students who were physically confined to the infirmary or who had deaths in their immediate family.”

“On the last day of September, 225 students dutifully handed in their term papers. Twenty-five students stood, quaking in terror, full of remorse. . . . I bowed to their pleas for mercy. ‘All right,’ I said. ‘I’ll give you a break this time. But, remember, the next assignment is due the last day of October.’”

“The students were profuse in their gratitude and filled the air with solemn promises of being on time for the next assignment. Then came the last day of October. Two hundred students came with their papers. Fifty students came empty-handed. They were nervous but not in panic. When I asked for their papers, again they were contrite. Once more I relented. If you are late for the next paper, it will be an F.”

“[O]n the last day of November . . . one hundred and fifty students came with their term papers. The other hundred strolled into the lecture hall utterly unconcerned. . . . I picked up my lethal black grade book and began taking down names.” [He started marking an F for each student who did not have the paper.]

“The students reacted with unmitigated fury. They howled in protest, screaming, ‘That’s not fair!’”

[Sproul responded,] “I see. It’s justice you want? I seem to recall that you were late with your paper the last time. If you insist on justice, you will certainly get it. I’ll not only give you an F for this assignment, but I’ll change your last grade to the F you so richly deserved.”

“The student was stunned. He had no more arguments to make. He apologized for being so hasty and was suddenly happy to settle for one F instead of two. The student had quickly taken my mercy for granted. They assumed it. When justice suddenly fell, they were unprepared for it. It came as a shock, and they were outraged. This, after only two doses of mercy in the space of two months.

R.C. Sproul, The Holiness of God, 124-26.

Too many of us expect God’s mercy at every turn and protest in the face of justice. We forget that while God is bound by His holiness to maintain justice, He is never obligated to grant mercy. That’s precisely why it’s called mercy.

Take a moment to ponder the ways God has withheld (or is withholding) the F you deserved. And once again appreciate the wonder of God’s mercy.

Throughout the Bible God often uses times of greatest suffering and affliction to lead His children toward repentance. I do not mean that all natural or personal disasters are the direct “punishment” for sin, but the Bible gives numerous examples of God calling His people to repent of sin and turn to Him out of times of intense suffering.

The Old Testament prophet Joel is one such example.

While scholars are unsure about the exact time of Joel’s life and prophecy, we can set the context with some accuracy. The nation of Israel had already been divided into two nations: Israel to the north and Judah to the south. His words of prophecy follow a time of increased physical suffering as the nation lost their harvest to a swarm of locusts. These pests had destroyed everything.

On the heels of this great calamity, God speaks a word of eventual judgment and eternal hope that has been illustrated by this plague.

¹²“Yet even now,” declares the LORD,
“return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
¹³and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.
¹⁴ Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering
for the LORD your God?

Joel 2:12-14 (ESV)

Immediately following the loss of their crops, what is God’s word for Israel? Return to the loving, gracious God in genuine repentance and hope He relents from destroying you completely.

The reaction feels contrary to our current cultural climate. Suffering generally produces doubt and questions and anger and bitterness and pride. But one of the foremost responses to disaster in the Bible is repentance from sin. It is not merely that all suffering is the direct result of sin. Rather, suffering gets our attention. Suffering often leads to the type of introspection that reveals sin.

In the moments of the most intense physical or emotional pain, turn to the Lord in genuine repentance and receive the grace and mercy only God can offer.