Be Still And Know

Psalm 51:1-2 NLT  'Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.' Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were tried in 1950s America for espionage. The Manhattan Project, through which the USA developed the nuclear bomb, was top secret and the Rosenbergs were identified as Soviet spies. The trial was a long and bitter one, and much controversy, then and now, surrounds their conviction and execution. As the final sentence was pronounced, the lawyer for the Rosenbergs cried out: “Your Honour, what my clients ask for is justice!” Judge Kaufman replied: “What the court has given them is what they ask, justice! What they really want is mercy. But mercy is something this court has no right to give them.”  Mercy is the gift of God alone. St Isaac the Syrian wrote: ‘Never say that God is just. If he were just you would be in hell. Rely only on His injustice which is mercy, love and forgiveness.” This wa