Mercy can mean to withhold the punishment that someone deserves, and in that sense it is closer to the meaning of the word ‘grace’. God shows great mercy in this sense to those who deserve punishment for their sins (e.g. Nehemiah 9:29-31, Micah 7:18, Proverbs 28:13). But the most common use of the word in the Bible is to refer to the aspect of God’s character where He demonstrates His immense compassion for those who are in distress or in need of help (Exodus 33:19, Psalm 6:2, Philippians 2:27). This characterised the Lord Jesus as He regularly healed people because of His great compassion for them (Matthew 9:27, Mark 10:46-52) and mercy should also characterise the people of God as they too should show compassion and care for those in need or distress (Micah 6:8, Matthew 5:7).
