What is the difference between the words “gracious” and “merciful?” Is there a difference? We often hear that God is both gracious and merciful in the same sentence. The phrase “gracious and merciful” is repeated many times throughout the Old Testament (2 Chronicles 30:9, Nehemiah 9:31, Psalm 111:4, Psalm 145:8, Joel 2:13). Are these words synonyms, or do they describe different attributes?
About 3.1 million children around the world die from undernutrition every year.[1] Natural disasters kill around 90,000 people and affect millions more.[2] In 2017, 17.79 million people died from different cardiovascular diseases, 9.56 million people died from cancer, and over 405,000 people were killed by another human being.[3] These numbers are absolutely devastating, and they lead people to ask questions, like “How could a good God let an innocent child die? Where was God in this disaster? How could God let these murderers continue to live?”
We’re not the only ones who ask these questions. People in the Bible asked God the same thing (Jeremiah 12:1, Psalm 89:46). We know God is good, but sometimes we don’t understand why He lets certain things happen. It just doesn’t seem fair.
But God is fair. He is just.
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“Oh, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.”-Shakespeare, Othello[1]
Jealousy is something that everyone struggles with, and it can also be known as envy or covetousness. We can be jealous of those who seem smarter, stronger, faster, or better-looking than us. We can be envious of someone’s popularity, power, or relationships. We can covet the stuff and money that other people have. Sometimes it seems that this green-eyed monster is lurking behind every corner, always trying to rob us of our contentment and destroy the relationships we do have.
But is jealousy always bad?
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Have you ever heard the phrase, “The only guaranteed thing in life is change”? The Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote a very similar saying around 2,500 years ago.[1] This profound insight proves to be true even to this day! How we look changes. How we talk changes. How we think changes. How we make decisions changes. Our styles change. Our preferences change. Our relationships change. Where we live changes. Where we work changes. What we do for fun changes. Seasons change. Our situations change. The economy changes. Seemingly everything in our lives changes!
But, there actually is something in our life that NEVER changes. Or, rather, Someone-
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“Holy Priceless Collection of Etruscan Snoods, Batman!”
This is just one of the hundreds of odd “holy” exclamations made by Robin (Burt Ward) on the 1960s Batman TV series.[1] Though we may not exclaim phrases quite so random as this one, people in our culture do exclaim other “holy” phrases when they are surprised, astonished, or in disbelief such as Holy Cow, Holy Moley, Holy Guacamole, Holy Mackerel, Holy Smokes, and other less savory exclamations. The word “holy” is also used in an exclamation in the Bible-
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