Events in life sometimes come at us so rapidly and randomly that it can be hard to find any meaning in them. So much of life can seem like a series of unrelated accidents, tied together with nothing more meaningful than mere coincidence.
But such a view of life underestimates the power of what the scriptures call the tender mercies of the Lord. The Psalmist wrote: “The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.”1
That isn’t to say that God micromanages the world or our lives. But He also does not ignore His children. A wise and loving Father, He finds countless ways—large and small, grand and mundane—to express His love and care. We don’t always notice His tender mercies, but He doesn’t stop extending them. If we look with the eye of faith, we can see His divine signature written on many moments of our lives.
In a busy intersection, a woman’s car stalled. Kind travelers a few cars back got out to help push her car to the side of the road, where they could jump-start the battery. That was a tender mercy. A teenage girl moved into a new neighborhood; her parents earnestly prayed she’d make good friends. The night before the first day at her new school, a neighbor girl texted and told her she’d save her a seat in the lunchroom. That was a tender mercy. An older man with a grim diagnosis received a phone call from his granddaughter just when he needed it most. That was a tender mercy.
But what of the hard times, the sorrow and heartbreak? Is God present in those moments too? Actually, many people find that He is most generous with His tender mercies during our hardest times—when we need them the most. Tender mercies rarely erase a difficulty, but they change the way we look at them. They open our hearts to the Lord’s quiet reassurances, comfort, and support. They open our eyes, and we see that, all this time, God was never very far away.
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May 01, 2022
Broadcast Number 4,833
The Tabernacle Choir
Orchestra at Temple Square
Conductor
Mack Wilberg
Ryan Murphy
Organist
Richard Elliott
Host
Lloyd Newell
How Firm a Foundation
Attributed to J. Ellis; arr. Mack Wilberg
Light Dawns on a Weary World
Mack Wilberg
Processional
William Mathias
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
German chorale; arr. F. Melius Christiansen
Jesus Loves Me
William B. Bradbury; arr. John A. Ferguson
Thou Gracious God, Whose Mercy Lends
English folk tune; arr. Mack Wilberg