Dog Ear The Page (Psalm 136:23)

One of the things that I do that irritates my wife is when I dog ear the corner of a page.  You know, when you want to mark your place in a book and you do not have a book mark, you fold down the corner of the page.  I probably do this most often when I am perusing through a cook book and come across a recipe that catches my eye.  Because it caught my fancy and I may want to try and make the item later, the corner of the page gets folded down.

There are other ways to mark  favorite items.  As a boy I sorted through football cards and would set aside favorites in a specific location in my foot locker.  Others may do the same with photos, long ago worn baby clothes and even family heirlooms.  We set them aside in boxes, trunks and chests.  One thing each of these has in common is that the item, because of its own virtue or significance, catches the eye or heart and causes us to mark it or set it aside.

God is the same: he too marks items as special to himself.  However the word used for marking an item for future reference is the word "remember".  Who remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy endureth for ever: (Psalms 136:23). I would love to think that because of something special in my self, God marked me for future reference.  However that is not the case for me or any of us.  God remembered us in our low estate because of his mercy.  It was his mercy that caused him to want us.  It was his mercy that caused him to "dog the ear" on each of us, sinners, so that we would stand out and be easily recognized for future reference.  It wasn't any of our abilities or our desire for him.  It was his mercy and his mercy alone that caused him to choose each of us.  

Had it not been for his mercy, we would have been left unmarked and would be left to perish in our sin.  If it wasn't for his mercy, we would not be enjoying his goodness each day of our lives.  Oh, how soon we forget what God has done for us and instead only think about what we want him to do for us in fulfillment of our goals, plans and desires.  We need to stop and maybe even "dog ear" in our hearts God's mercy and refer to it each day.  Maybe that was Paul's secret for being content in whatever state he may be in. (Philippians 4:11)

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