grace!
Save me, O God,for the waters have come up to my neck
I sink in the miry depths,
where there is no foothold.
I have come into the deep waters;
the floods engulf me.
I am worn out calling for help;
my throat is parched.
My eyes fail,
looking for my God
But I pray to you, O LORD,
in the time of your favour;
in your great love, O God,
answer me with your sure salvation.
Rescue me from the mire,
do not let me sink;
deliver me from those who hate me,
from the deep waters.
Do not let the floodwaters engulf me
or the depths swallow me up
or the pit close its mouth over me.
Answer me, O Lord, out of the goodness of your love;
in your great mercy turn to me.
Do not hide your face from your servant;
answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.
Come near and rescue me;
redeem me because of my foes.
Those are two sections from Psalm 69 (vs1-3, vs 13-18) where King David in his affliction earnestly begs for God to relieve and succour him. But the psalmist ends off with a voice of joy and praise, and the glory that shall follow Christ's coming.
Just wanted to put on record a wonderful story Joanne told at ocf last night during our small group session:
There was once a woman who murdered several times. She was put in jail, and sentenced to be executed. During her time in jail, she came to know the Lord as her saviour, she became a Christian. As her execution date drew near however, she grew very fearful: The sins I've committed are so great, greater than all those people outside, I murdered people, what if God cannot forgive that? What if He cannot give me salvation after all? I did not just sin, I sinned terribly, what if Jesus dying for me was not enough?
Her christian worker and counsellor then told her to imagine this:
Imagine a beach, next to the sea, waves lapping at the shore. From far it looks perfect, soft sand stretching for miles, but then you realise that on this beach are plenty of holes. Some are tiny, perhaps like those made by crabs making their way along the seaside, some are medium sized, like those dug when building sandcastles maybe, and some are huge deep pit-holes, which if one should fall into, it would be difficult to get out. But, when the tide comes in, huge waves covering that strip of beach with many holes, all the holes, big or small, are completely covered by the tide of the ocean.
I thought that was a beautiful illustration. For that is how grace is. Grace does not depend on how small or big the holes in our lives are. Even the "perfect" smooth sandy parts in our lives are covered over in entirety by the tide of God's grace. There is no such thing has needing more of grace because you have sinned more terribly, grace comes and covers a multitude of sins, and comes regardless of how much good, or bad, you've done in your life. There is no room for self-gratification, saying that yes I deserve this amount of grace because I am this good or not that bad a person; there is no room for self-condemnation either, saying that I’m too bad for any atonement for sins. Jesus’ act of atonement and sacrifice on the cross was once, for all. For all have sinned, and though it varies in magnitude according to the consequences one faces on this earth, in the eyes of a holy God, sin is just sin. And so, it is only by grace.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8,9 “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin, how can we live in it any longer?” Romans 6:1,2
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