grace

Finding Rest

“In returning and rest you shall be saved” (Isaiah 30:15)

All of the attributes that God has given to mankind have been corrupted in their application and use. Making alliances is one of them. Even very young children make informal alliances in order to feel safer. Some of these are, or may become, genuine friendships. The alliances we often call friendships will not stand the tests of adversity or affliction that life brings whereas genuine friendships will. “Fair weather” friends are alliances that collapse under the pressure of personal cost.

Like most nations of the world, Israel made alliances with other nations for reasons of safety and protection. They had been specifically commanded by the Lord not to make any alliance, especially with Egypt. Alliances may give the feeling of safety but history shows that they are unreliable. Egypt did not protect Israel from Babylon and was itself overrun. How many of the great alliances of old have lasted? Is there a person more than a few years old who has not been let down by a “fair weather” friend?

The medical world tells us that family and faithful friends are an extremely important element in the recovery of a patient. God has made us with the need of mutual support. He has also made us with the need of a friend who we know will remain faithful no matter the circumstance. In the hymn, “What a Friend we have in Jesus” we sing:

“Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

“Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

“In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
You will find a solace there.”

Further on in this chapter of Isaiah (vv 15-20) we have the Lord appealing to Israel as the father does in the parable of Jesus we call “the Parable of the Prodigal Son” (Luke 15:11-32). We see Him eagerly waiting, full of grace (vv 18, 19), for Israel to return and rest in Him (v 15). He has the same attitude toward people even today.

To whom do we go for advice and counsel (vv 1, 2)? The answer that most people would offer is that they go to the worldly experts. We want expert opinion but frequently expert opinion changes. It is most sad when people who call themselves Christians do not seek counsel or advice from the Lord (the only true “expert”) but seek it from the experts of this world.

As the father of the prodigal son waited, so the Lord is waiting to pour out His grace on all who call out to Him in faith. “He will be very gracious to you (vv 18, 19).” This is to say, His cup of grace is overflowing toward the one who comes to Him. He may have sent “the bread of adversity” and “the water of affliction” but only so as to bring us to the place where we return to Him to receive the outpouring of His love and grace.

Abounding Grace

“The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:28

The Apostle Paul ends most of his letters with this or a similar prayer. Grace is one of the attributes of God and as such we should not be surprised to learn that He is always gracious toward us.

From time to time I discover myself saying something like, “God was gracious when He …” Oh, isn’t He always gracious? The fact is that God is always gracious but we tend only to recognise the fact when something goes our way and we receive benefit that makes us feel good.

Was God ungracious when (speaking hypothetically) I was sacked, was He ungracious when I lost my wallet, when my car was stolen, when my house burned down, when that car ran into me, when I contracted cancer?

God is always gracious and we need to look carefully at our motives for commenting on what we perceive as His gracious acts because we may inadvertently be suggesting that there are times when He is not gracious toward us. Is it really thankfulness for a kind and undeserved favour; or is it an attempt to make me appear more deserving of God’s favour than others (in which case it isn’t God’s grace at all but my boasting); or is it an attempt to flatter God into doing more that pleases me rather than what He knows is good for me?

We live in a fallen world where both pleasant and unpleasant things happen but they do not mean that God’s grace has been increased, paused or stopped. When we give thanks for God’s gracious acts toward us let us not stop there but thank Him for His grace even when we do not recognise it. Maybe we even think that He has forgotten us when the reality is that His grace is as abounding as ever.

The attributes of our God are always in action toward us whether we recognise them or not. God is love so His love is always reaching out to us; God is merciful so He is always merciful toward us; God is forgiving so He always forgives when we repent; God is righteous so His actions toward us are always according to righteousness; and so on.

Yes, by all means thank God for His grace toward you when you become aware of it but be very careful that there isn’t an underlying complaint that suggests that at other times He has not been gracious with you. If we only knew the extent of the wickedness of our hearts we would never suggest that God’s love, grace and mercy have been anything other than in abundance beyond words and measure.

Power to Overcome

“… God and Saviour who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4)

For an aeroplane to fly there are a number of laws that are taken into consideration and are either utilised or need to be overcome. The laws that most readily come to mind are the law of aerodynamics and the law of gravity. The law of gravity will not go away and neither does the law of aerodynamics cease to exist even if nothing is utilising it. They always remain. We cannot simply turn them off as we do a light in our home.

The law of aerodynamics requires motion to be effective and energy is needed to effect that motion. In gliders that energy comes from the sun but most aeroplanes depend on engines to give them the required motion to bring the law of aerodynamics into effect.

In the verse quoted above Paul writes to Timothy clearly stating that God’s will is that every person should be saved. Peter and the writer of Hebrews write the same thing (2 Peter 3:9; Hebrews 10:10; cf Romans 6:10). Equally clear in the Bible is that few will be saved (Matthew 7:13-15).

There are two laws in the Gospel of Christ that act in relation to each other much like the laws of gravity and aerodynamics. If the law of aerodynamics is not utilised an object will inevitably succumb to the law of gravity. For an aeroplane and its passengers that can be catastrophic. In like manner if the law of grace in Christ Jesus is not utilised a person succumbs to the law of God’s holiness and that is also catastrophic. For a plane to overcome gravity it requires energy. For a person to escape the law of sin and death he/she requires the grace of God through Jesus Christ (vs 5, 6).

Whether an aeroplane in the air or a sinner before our Holy God, whatever happens the laws are fulfilled. If an aeroplane crashes all the laws pertaining to it are fulfilled. It crashed because it did not have the power to bring the law of aerodynamics into effect. When a person is not saved all the laws of God are fulfilled. If a person is not saved it is because he/she had no power to bring the law of grace and forgiveness into effect.

It is God’s will that all be saved but it is only those who receive the grace of God in Jesus Christ who will be saved from sin and death. The reason for this is that He alone took away mankind’s sin and therefore He alone is the Mediator between God and men (v 5). Jesus Christ alone has the power to deal with man’s sinfulness. As Luke writes, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). It was His blood alone that was shed on the cross at Calvary.

We who have received the grace of God in Jesus Christ now have the privilege and responsibility to tell others so that they may come to the knowledge of the truth and receive the gift of God’s grace in Jesus Christ, just as we have been so graced.