Our period of sojourning on this earth is measured by days, months and years; and as another year draws to an end the fleeting nature of time, the brevity of man’s days and the temporary character of many things are emphasised thereby, especially in the minds of those who are taught of God. Childhood and youth and the vigour and strength of manhood swiftly fade into the past and give place to old age and the limitations connected therewith; “and if by reason of strength they be four-score years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow . . .” (Ps. xc, 10). Ultimately the shadows of death draw near and man’s life on earth is soon at an end, inasmuch as, “his days are as grass, as a flower of the field,” and “the wind passeth over it and it is gone,” (Ps. ciii, 15, 16). And by reason of this unspeakably solemn and appointed visitation upon man, “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh” (Eccles. i, 4); life-long friendships end; the most intimate relationships are disannulled; the lawful and beneficial activities of many in the society of men cease; the voice of the preacher, which once sounded out the precious tidings of the Redeemer’s love for the ungodly is silenced; and much more indeed comes to an end periodically in the process of a year. Then we ourselves personally shall also, sooner or later, come to the end, not of another year, but of life’s journey, for truly here we have no continuing city. On parting with time, the impenitent and unbelieving sinner shall discover that the end has come upon all the worldly and carnal sources wherein alone he sought a short-lived happiness and satisfaction.
But what of those who have been led of the Spirit of God in their soul’s experience, to come sin-burdened to the wounds of a crucified Saviour for divine and saving mercy and have been enabled by a living faith to taste of that mercy, in the forgiveness of their sins and the bestowal upon them of the blessed hope of eternal life in Christ Jesus? God’s mercy never ends with respect to all such; and great and glorious are the words of the psalmist relevant to this question: “The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him,” (Ps. ciii, 17). This sovereign, free and plenteous mercy, this covenant pity and compassion, embraces the pardoned sinner as the everlasting God Himself, Whose mercy it is, embraces the forgiven. Christ declares, “My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand” (John x, 29).
How wonderfully satisfying God’s mercy must indeed be in the experience of His children, when they obtain clear and sober views of the “glories” of earth, described by Solomon as nothing but vanity and vexation of spirit; and are on the other hand quickened and enlightened to pray, “O! satisfy us early with thy mercy that we may be glad and rejoice all our days” (Ps. xc, 14). Surely here there is a source where the needy soul may find continued happiness. God’s mercy shines even while the poor believer may be walking in darkness and through tribulation, spiritually or in providence, and while tried and tempted that days of consolation will never return. One glimpse of that mercy in Jesus, given by the aid of the Holy Spirit through the Truth of God, will lift his heart as nothing else can. Jonah said out of the depths, “I will look again towards thy holy temple,” (Jonah ii, 4), and then there followed “Salvation is of the Lord,” (Jonah ii, 9). God’s mercy did not end for Jonah, wayward as he had been. The promise of God speaks sweetly of His mercy, when He declares how He has bound Himself to the believer, in these words, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb. xiii, 5). The friendship, favour and fellowship of others may end and be lost for one reason or another. But God’s mercy never ends as it flows out to them that fear Him, in divine and unfailing friendship, which brings to them, as their state requires, strength, comfort, correction, keeping, etc., and the supplying of every real need according to his riches in Christ Jesus, during the whole of their lifetime. And finally, they have held out to them, in the Scriptures, the prospect that God’s mercy shall continue to surround them, until they be delivered from all their trials and are led safely through the valley of the shadow of death into the realms of glory, where God’s delight in mercy shall be revealed to them through the exalted Lamb, and experienced in an indescribable manner and in a full and perfect measure, this to never end, but to be upon them to everlasting ages.