Mercy & Grace

What does the mercy and grace of the Lord look like? If you are a Christian, you have seen the mercy and grace of the Lord in His death, resurrection, and forgiveness of your sin as well as in the eternal life and home you have waiting. But, the Lord is always merciful and gracious to us in our Christian lives as well and we see it when "good" things happen like a raise, birth of a new child, success in college, etc. So where is the mercy and grace in the "bad" times: times of meager wages, sickness, grief in loss of a loved one, betrayal by a friend, etc.

"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." Lam. 3:22-23

"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." John 1:7

In a previous post of mine, I defined grace in light of the Christmas story and the charge that Mary was given. I analyzed her response by putting her trust in the Lord regardless of the difficulty or persecution she would have to endure as a result of a virgin birth. Grace is to be seen as God allowing us to be a part of the spread of the Gospel. Ex. 3:14 reminds us that God is the great I AM and can accomplish all His will with no need for resources or support, yet he chooses to have an intimate relationship with us and uses us to accomplish His will. Now in order to experience that, we must be totally surrendered and trusting in the Lord- completely dependent on Him.

Is it not when our control comes in that the will of the Lord is not accomplished? That's too difficult- I'm too busy, that's too far away Lord, I'm not experienced or gifted for that Lord, I can't risk taking that pay cut Lord, that's not what I expected to do with my life Lord . . . we could go on and on. That's when we get into depression because we have personal expectations of what our lives should be based on personal ideals, planning, or outside peer pressure/expectations. For instance, the infertile woman with friends that are all pregnant. She feels less of a woman because of it and doesn't know if she can stand another baby announcement. The divorced person who was betrayed by their spouse- they feel like less of a person because their spouse was supposed to love them more than anyone and decided one day they didn't anymore.

Life is hard and sometimes we are so discouraged we can't make sense of anything. The devil uses this to paralyze us- to never make new relationships because of fear, to never move forward to a new position because of fear, to not live life fully because you feel as though you have to have someone/something to make you fully complete or happy. As Solomon says, all is vanity! The only one who can satisfy and lead you to your calling in life is the Lord.

So, let's go back to mercy and grace- next time you get a disappointing call that you didn't get the job, you fail a class that you've worked so hard to pass, a boyfriend doesn't work out for the long haul, you feel like you're loneliness will never end . . . remember, all of these things are protection, mercy, and grace of the Lord. Lean on Him and He will give you rest. Stop trying to control and let Him show you His expectations! It will be above and beyond anything you could have ever comprehended! (Eph. 3:20) While we don't know what's going on, why do we fear to trust an unknown future to an all-knowing God! His timing is best- and His blessings are overwhelming for those who trust in Him and wait on Him and rest in Him! Perhaps that "dream job" came with a nightmare boss! Perhaps that boyfriend wasn't actually a Christian but put on a good show, etc. While some things that happen in life are so difficult to manage, remember that the Lord can comfort, fulfill, and strengthen you like no other. He won't necessarily tell you why, but He will show you His mercy, grace, and will which are priceless. Praise the Lord- the Great I AM!