“Let, I pray, Your merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to Your word to Your servant. Let Your tender mercies come to me, that I may live; for Your law is my delight” (Ps 119:76-77).
Certain words roll over the tongue like tasty morsels. Such are “merciful kindness” and “tender mercies.” Some have translated the first, chasdecha, as “steadfast devotion” or “unfailing love”; and the second, rachameycha, as “fatherly affection.”
It’s true, isn’t it? After affliction, our deepest longing is usually not for answers but for affection—someone who deeply cares about us. Who better than our heavenly Father? The New Testament reveals Him as “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation…” (2 Cor 1:3-4). You would almost think that Paul had these verses from Psalm 119 in mind as he wrote his own words of comfort.
In need of merciful kindness and tender mercies today? The Father is waiting to minister to you personally through His Word and by His Spirit.