All of God’s judgments have within them an expression of His mercy. His mercy has a limit, not on God’s ability to love sinful people, but on the extent and purpose of His judgment.

People too easily think that God enjoys judging sin. Because of that misunderstanding, some have defined the Lord as cruel and unloving. They do not understand that their sin and its resulting pain and sorrow are the consequence of their sin. That consequence is our judgment. When these consequences take place, the Lord has placed limits on hell’s ability to afflict us.

“I was only a little angry with my people, but the nations inflicted harm on them far beyond my intentions” (Zechariah 1:15). God’s mercy has no limits. The pain of the consequence for our sin is limited by God. He wants to redeem us, not destroy us.

When the people of Jerusalem sinned against the Lord and He withdrew His hand of protection from them, the Lord already had a plan in place to restore His people. After the afflicting nations went beyond the scope of God’s plan of redemption, the Lord had to intervene.

“Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I have returned to show mercy to Jerusalem” (vs. 16). Like us, Israel did not always learn the lesson the Lord wanted them to learn. When the consequence of their sin was upon them, the only way to survive what was happening to them was to experience God’s mercy.

When the consequence of our sin exceeds God’s intentions, it’s because the devil took his afflictions beyond the scope of what the Lord intended. The devil has no right to afflict God’s people beyond the limits of what is allowed by the Lord. We need to confront that violation by declaring the heart and purpose of God.

God’s mercy is infinitely more powerful than any consequence of our sin. When we live a life of mercy, marriages can be restored, returning prodigals will be welcomed home, and nations can be miraculously transformed in a day.

That kind of restoration is only possible when we confess our sins, becoming vulnerable before God, willing to express His mercy to those who are being used to punish us. That choice will overcome any destructive plan of hell, offering a new way forward toward restoration with God and with people who were used as the tools of our affliction.