And the LORD passed before him (Moses) and procliamed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering,
and abounging in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means
clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth
generation." Ex. 33:6-7.
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Only God can be merciful and still hold us accountable for our iniquities. He showed king David mercy when he committed adultery
and murder. He still held him accountable for those crimes and king David paid the consequences for what he did. God can
be merciful and just, equally. But not only king David suffered the consequences of his sin. His son also. The
child that Bathsheba, the woman David committed adultery with, also died. An example of the LORD visiting the iniquity of
the father upon the child. God also tells us to show mercy to others. He promises to bless the merciful. Jesus
said, "Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy," Matt. 5:7. Through the LORD's mercies we
are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness. "The LORD
is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!" The LORD is good to those who WAIT for Him,
to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. Lam.3:22-26.
He has shown you, O man, what is good, and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with your God? Micah 6:8.
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