Mercy, not Judgment

Scripture:
How long will you torment me
    and crush me with words?
Ten times now you have reproached me;
    shamelessly you attack me...
If you say, "How we will hound him,
    since the root of the trouble lies in him,"
you should fear the sword yourselves;
    for wrath will bring punishment by the sword,
    and then you will know that there is judgment.
Job 19:2-3,28-29

Observation: In this entire section, Job is simply asking or mercy from his friends. He is no longer concerned with whether or not he is right/righteous. He is even willing to state that he is under attack by God, and there may be an offense he committed. But that is between him and God - he just wants his friends to quit judging him, and to have compassion.

Application: Every judgment I pass onto others will be returned to me by God, because judgment only belongs to him.

How many times have I said or thought some version of: "That person made bad decisions and brought those troubles into their own life," or "When you do bad things over and over, you get the consequences," or "They have rejected God, and that's why their life is an empty mess"? I probably think something like that 20 times a day.

Whoa to me!!! Such a curse is upon me! I should fear the sword, for it is upon me with the judgment of God.

As a matter of fact, the condition of others is truly none of my business. I have no way of knowing its source, and even if I did that has no bearing on anything. The facts of people's spiritual lives is something they need to work out with God, with Jesus as their redeemer (a person Job again discusses here).

However, this chapter DOES tell me what I should be doing - I should be showing mercy to the downtrodden!! I am not to ignore them, just not judge them. I am to show compassion ... to have kind words, to not turn away, and certainly to not exalt myself above anyone simply because I do not have their burdens. These things I need to begin doing, now.

Prayer: Jesus, friend of sinners, open my eyes to the world at the end of my pointing fingers. Let my heart be filled with mercy. I am in fact a hypocrite ... I thank you so much for loving me, then judge others as lost without considering how you love them as much or more than you love me. I earnestly pray that I repent from a mind of judgment - that I no longer consider the mistakes of other that may have transpired in their past, and begin to see people with your eyes. Please, break my heart for what breaks yours.