Grace for every day
A few weeks ago I remember doing my very best to stay awake pray before our Tuesday night service. But it really wasnt going anywhere. I was tired. Exhausted. Ty hadnt been sleeping well, therefore neither was I . I had hurried through the day which was a particularly busy one and had done my best to be ready for service that night. I guess it was just a typical day in the life of a young mom. Though I did also feel weak. Physically weak, like my ipad was too heavy. I still dont know why. But I remember praying Lord, please give me strength to do what I need to in this service.” It certainly wasnt an eloquent prayer, or a long one, but soon I went out and began preparing for service. It was amazing, by the time Titus read the opening scripture I felt much better. I led song service from the piano, and God helped me. I made a few mistakes, but certainly not as many as I sometimes do. And by the end of church I felt strengthened and refreshed. I had experienced grace.
Grace. unmerited favor, getting what you don’t deserve, God being good to you for no reason, No reason at all. Grace and mercy are opposites in a way. mercy is to not get what we do deserve, and grace is getting something that we dont deserve. In the hustle and bustle of every day life, we need the grace of God to help us through. Grace is something that I receive every day amd something that I have experienced countless times
Paul also talks about receiving the grace of God, in one particular, very difficult time in his life.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
Now we have to be honest here, we dont really know exactly what the issue was. Some like to say that paul had a physical sickness, which he might have had. And Ive even heard some say that they thought it was because he wasnt married, and wanted to be. I dont really know about that idea either. We do know that it was a direct attack from satan and that Paul was in a time of weakness, whatever the problem was, it was something that bothered him tremendously. He wanted it to stop. He wanted it to stop so badly that he besought the Lord three times to make it go away. But it didnt. That word besought is a strong one, I imagine paul even fasted and prayed for this problem to go away. For years he struggled against this attack of the enemy. He begged God to remove the Problem, but it was something that he would have to deal with.
Truthfully our problems often dont go away. If you do the laundry and dishes today, more will be there in the morning. Though I’m certainly NOT saying that we should skip them!!! But daily aggervations sometimes dont go away. At least not when we’d like them to. maybe it was the work situation that didnt go away, or the marriage problem didnt go away, or the financial problems or the cancer didnt go away. Sometimes things just dont go away when we want them to. Now I beleive 110 percent that God is a God of miracles and wonders!! Nothing will ever change my mind on that. Ive seen them happen. But when we have a pile of things that we would love to see just go away; whether its sickness or sorrow, debts or dirty socks (and the Lord knows sometimes its the dirty socks that get you.) His answer for us is grace.
Grace is receiving something we didnt deserve. It is when God gives us the strength to walk on through every day knowing that things may not have changed; things may still be a bit difficult, but God hasnt changed either. Grace takes our worst circumstances and turns them into something that we can face every day with strength and peace.
When we look at paul we see that He wanted to just walk right over his struggle into victory, but he could not. This was a situation in which he had to learn to lean on God. To lean into the Grace that was given him day by day, moment by moment. “when I am weak, then I am strong.” He says.
That is God’s promise for every one of His children. When you are weak, when you cant handle the burden that you struggle under, He will be strong for you. He will carry you when you cannot carry on alone.
Gods promise to us is that his grace is sufficient. It is enough. It is exactly what we need. When we are weak we can lean on Him and He will be strong for us.
That is the essence of grace. There is no reason for Him to help us in our weakness. He could just say “try harder little man, you can do it by yourself” but he doesnt. He says instead “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5) He tells us to cast all our cares upon Him because He cares for us. (1 Peter 5:7) He says that He knows our frame. He knows that we are just dust, (Psalm 103:16) and he says that He is our heavenly Father and knows exactly what we have need of. (Matthew 6:30-33) So trust in Him let the grace of God carry you through another day.