Mercy as a substance

Mercy is room to heal.

We all know this cliche from everyday conversation: "Give me some space..." By this is meant need for respite, for deliverance from the din of demands. For cover and covering. Simply put, for a breather.

Mercy is space to live -- given to us when neither space nor life may actually be deserved.

And so when space is provided, and healing is given so life is sustained ... there is a word for that. Some call it dwelling.

To dwell. A house to dwell in.

It is striking how many times the word "mercy" is linked with "house" in the Scriptures. For example, here is the psalmist:

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever...

The philosopher Martin Heidegger -- and he needs to be cited cautiously whenever Biblical matters are concerned; but something he said does strike me as relevant here -- the philosopher Martin Heidegger once discerned sparing (being spared) at the heart of what it means to dwell.

He may not be far off in this one. Here again is the psalmist:

But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple.

Mercy is a house. When we receive mercy, we have a house to dwell in.

We are spared aimlessness.

This is the second substance Paul wished on Timothy, both to receive as well as to give.

Logos2Go

1 Timothy 1.1-2 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Psalm 23.6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 5.7 But as for me, I will come [into] thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: [and] in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.

ἔλεος - Strong #G1656 - eleos

"The fundamental character of dwelling is this sparing and preserving ..." Martin Heidegger, Building Dwelling Thinking (1951)