Mercy Rule

In sports there is something called the mercy rule. When one team clearly outmatches the other, to the point that they are starting to run up a substantial score, especially in cases where it is clear that the worse team has no chance of catching up to the other team, let alone winning, the mercy rule dictates that the game is over and a winner is declared. The mercy rule tries to prevent both sore losers and sore winners and to stop a lot of unnecessary humiliation. The Savior practices the mercy rule. Sometimes we face up against one of life's challenges and we are unequally matched. We give it our all and our best is not even close to good enough. We try everything and we only fall farther and farther behind. But then, just when we fear that the trial will never end, the Savior steps in and calls the game. God doesn't give us more than we can handle, and if we can't handle it, then He sends in His Son to pull us out, pick us up, snatch us from the jaws of defeat, and carry us to the end of the line. This is the mercy rule. When Abraham lifted up the knife to slay his son, and God stopped him, that was the mercy rule. When Moses walked into the Red Sea, maybe even up to his neck, and God parted the waters, that was the mercy rule. When Naaman bathed seven times in the Jordan and was cleansed of leprosy, that was the mercy rule. We all know the story of the man looking back at his life and seeing two sets of footprints in the sand - his, and the Lord's - and wondering why in his hardest moments there was only one set of footprints. That was when the Lord carried him. That was when the mercy rule went into effect. We may not come out of every battle victorious. We may not win every game. All the Lord asks of us is that we can find it in us to hold on until He can apply the mercy rule. I know whether it seems like the bottom of the ninth or the bottom of the ninety ninth, the Lord will come for us and declare the game over and lift us up on His shoulders and cheer that we endured until the mercy rule could take effect.