Here is mercy manifested in forbearance with sinners. If God should
have dealt with them in justice they would have been cut off long
before. Think of the evil, the impurity, the sin that God must see.
How it must disgust Him. Then remember that He could crush it all
in a moment. Yet He does not. He pleads; He sacrifices to show His
love for sinners. Surely it is because of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed, and because His compassions fail not. Yet,
beware lest we abuse this goodness, for our God is also a consuming
fire. "Behold, the goodness and the severity of God." The Mercy
of God is here shown in His loving forbearance with sinners.

_bb) Loving-kindness towards the saints, in particular._

Psa. 32:10--"But he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass
him about." The very act of trust on the part of the believer moves
the heart of God to protect him just as in the case of a parent
and his child. The moment I throw myself on God I am enveloped in
His mercy--mercy is my environment, like a fiery wall it surrounds
me, without a break through which an evil can creep. Besistance
surrounds us with "sorrow"; but trust surrounds us with "mercy."
In the center of that circle of mercy sits and rests the trusting
soul.

Phil. 2:27--"For indeed he was sick nigh unto death; but God had
mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should
have sorrow upon sorrow." Here God's loving-kindness is seen in
healing up His sick children. Yet remember that "He hath mercy on
whom He will have mercy." Not every sick child of God is raised.
Psa. 6:4--"Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak: O Lord, heal
me...Deliver my soul for thy mercies' sake (v. 4)." The psalmist