Oil and Water
We’ve all heard the expression, “oil and water don’t mix.” Most of us have probably seen, at some point, oil floating on the surface of water, perhaps in an elementary school science experiment or on images of horrific oil spills on the earth’s oceans. It is true that the density of oil and water are such that under normal circumstances, they do not mix but create layers floating on each other. Oil and water serve completely different purposes, though each are massively vital to life on earth. Oil and water are both used for cooking, though when you immerse something in heated oil or water, you get completely different results! Oil and water are both used in machinery: oil for lubrication and water for cooling. Both are necessary to keep an engine running when friction heats its metal parts. Water is necessary for life, yet oil is needed to live life. Oil has been consumed for heat, light, lotions, and other uses necessary for us to function on earth. God has created two very different fluids to fulfill very necessary purposes in our life.
Similarly, throughout Scripture we find two attributes linked together that seem to oppose each other. These two contradicting elements are both part of God’s character, and we also find that both are necessary if we are to walk in the light of God’s presence. Psalm 85:10 clearly link the two together when it says: Mercy and truth are met together… Mercy is linked with truth? The next Psalm reiterates their association in verse 15: But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion…and plenteous in mercy and truth. Psalm 89:14: Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face. Twenty-one times the Bible links these two elements together, and that is without counting the times that the word for mercy is translated as lovingkindness, which adds another four instances. It is evident that God intends for them to be coupled with each other, but why? Mercy is gentle, truth is often harsh; mercy is uncondemning, truth is associated with judgment; mercy is warm, truth frequently cold; mercy goes with grace, truth with law. And perhaps that is the key: God gave us both the law and grace. Perhaps they are two sides of a balance scale. God is certainly a balanced God; the Bible speaks of God delighting in a “just weight.” He is no respecter of persons. His hatred for sin is balanced by his love for sinners. His holiness is balanced by his forgiveness of sin. God certainly judges sin in truth, but His patience and forgiveness of sin demonstrate his mercy like nothing else. Psalm 130:4 tells us that there is forgiveness with God (mercy), to the end that He may be feared (truth). Mercy with truth is undoubtedly part of God’s character, but it is even more.
You see, God’s children are to walk balanced by these two important possessions. Proverbs 3:3 tells us Let not mercy and truth forsake thee; bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: Mercy and truth aren’t just for God; they are for us as well. They are crucial to living a stable Christian life. If we lean too much toward mercy, we lose sight of the truth that can keep us from sin and error. We become accepting of everyone and everything regardless of what God’s Word says about them. Yet if we are overbalanced by truth, we lose God’s heart of love for people. There is no warmth or draw for people to come to the truth: only cold judgment of wrong behavior. There is no compassion or allowance for others to be forgiven. Mercy and lovingkindness draw people out of sin; truth can keep people free from sin. Yet there is more to the idea of mercy and truth, and it is marvelous!
Psalm 61:7 shares an important truth: He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him. Clearly, preservation is found in mercy and truth. Proverbs 16:6 says By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil. How are preservation and purification found in mercy and truth? It is obvious that mercy can give life, for a pardoned prisoner can attest to that, but what of truth? One would think that it is truth that purges iniquity, for the truth of the law condemns sinful actions, but where does mercy come into play? Is it not that we can find cleansing from sin and preservation in the One who demonstrated both mercy and truth so clearly when He refused to condemn to death the woman caught in adultery; yet told her to go, and sin no more (John 8:11)? Even more than this, the One who took the truth of our sins upon himself, recognizing that the law, though true, could not save on its own, and was judged by God for our sins on the cross at Calvary, and whose judgment extended mercy and life to those who were condemned in sin? Truth and mercy in the person of Jesus Christ! These two opposing elements come together in our Lord for our preservation and purification! O what a magnificent God we serve, who fulfilled both truth and mercy in One person, His Son Jesus Christ! Ephesians 2:4-7 has the last word: But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.