Waves of Grace

There’s a question that has been running through my mind for almost seven months. This surge of God’s grace that I have been feeling during this time—has that much grace been available my whole life and I just missed it? Or is it a special dispensation just for this hard time?

If you heard me speak at Valley Forge Christian College (October) or the Thanksgiving service at our home church (November) I told you that I was pondering this question. Well, in God’s grace, December’s topic in my Bible study was “Grace: God’s Provision for Every Need.”

My ears were open.

As I searched each scripture, I asked God to teach me.

As the writers of “Seeking Him” (Nancy Leigh DeMoss and Tim Grissom) so aptly pointed out, God’s grace is totally available to us, whether we need forgiveness of sin, or assistance with Christian maturity, or support when we are suffering.

Yes, I knew that. But why the surge now like never before? Was it God’s initiative or mine that caused this wave of grace?

I missed it the first time through the Bible study, and there were still question marks, so I went through the entire chapter again, examining every scripture, digesting every illustration, praying for God to show me. I had to know.

And then there it was…Eureka! How could I have missed it the first time through?

The necessary ingredient on my part was HUMILITY.

Scripture is clear. When I humble myself, and admit that I need God, his grace is there. Instantly. When I finally recognize how much I need him, he's very ready to send a flood of grace. Wow! So it's my initiative AND his!

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“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6

“Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this [Paul’s thorn in the flesh], that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” II Corinthians 12:8-9

““Humble yourself, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” I Peter 5:6-7

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The writers of the study said it this way [referring to I Peter 5:6-7 above], “When we are humble, do you see where God places His hands? Above us to cover us and beneath us to carry us. Sometimes our humility comes via repentance from sin, and sometimes it comes through the pain of suffering. In either case, humility hails the presence of God, and He cups us in His hands. What better place to be?” p. 96.

Humility has been the necessary ingredient all along, but I have usually been too self-sufficient to REALLY need God. Before this disease, I could always plan, organize, orchestrate things and make them happen…pretty much on my own.

Then came the ALS diagnosis. Suddenly I was up against something over which I had no control. It drained me of self-sufficiency!

Now, after almost seven months of battling this disease, I’m amazed at how much more open I am to help…from God and from people. Physically, I’m getting along well, according to the doctor’s assessment, but I still have difficulty talking and walking. It’s been kind of naturally humbling--sometimes humiliating.

The amazing thing is that I don’t think I would have learned this pivotal lesson if I had been healthy and whole. I had to be really needy to see it.

And now I want to say something to my precious women friends at Espoo International Christian Fellowship in Finland, who are doing the same Bible study. Let’s not miss this life-changing lesson. Don't wait until you're sick to figure it out:

WHEN WE HUMBLE OURSELVES BEFORE GOD, HE'S VERY READY TO UNLEASH BIG WAVES OF GRACE!