Magnified Loving Kindness

“Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die.”  Genesis 19:19

This rather presumptuous plea of Lot to the angels who had spared his life when they called down fire from heaven to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah is noteworthy because it contains the first reference in the Bible to the lovingkindness or mercy of God. Lot was a believer and a righteous man, but carnal in attitude and greedy in motivation. Yet God not only showed grace in His dealings with Lot, but even magnified mercy!

As appropriate for the principle of first mention in Scripture, this first reference to mercy lays the foundation for the dominant theme of the doctrine of mercy throughout Scripture. The key is that God’s mercy can only be described properly in superlatives, and this fact is noted repeatedly throughout Scripture.

“The lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,” said David (Psalm 103:17). “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him” (Psalm 103:11). His mercy, therefore, is both eternal and infinite. Nothing could ever be more magnified than this!

No wonder Paul says He is “rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us” (Eph. 2:4), and Peter tells us that “His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope” (1 Pet. 1:3).

“He saved us” only “according to His mercy,” surely “not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness” (Titus 3:5). Therefore, with David we can say, “Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6).