IN HIS GRIP: I'M UNDER GRACE

I’ve been reading through the Old Testament again, about how God had freed the Israelites from the Egyptians and how God went with them until they reached the Promised Land. And at the end of their journey, the Lord told them one thing over and over – REMEMBER. Remember everything God has done for them.

If you’d ask for me one of the things that I love to do as a Christian, it’d be remembering how God has been my greatest companion.

God has always been a gracious and loving father to me. He loves, blesses, and protects but He never spoils. He disciplines. He lets me walk through rough roads where I fall down from time to time. He lets me sail through the storm and crazy waves. But He knows me inside and out. He knows my strength and my limitations. He knows how much I can handle. And when the rough roads and the crazy waves become too much for me to handle, He comes just in time to pick me up and save me.

I remember how I used to be a very timid girl. I was so shy that my “recitation record” in class was clean because I seldom recited in class. I was so shy I think I could even last a day without speaking to any of my classmates even though all of them were my friends. I was quiet and shy. This was how my teachers viewed me. This was how I viewed myself.

But God saw me differently. He said that as His child I ought to be the head and not the tail, to be always at the top and never at the bottom (Deuteronomy 28:13). He knew me better than I did. He graciously showered me with talents which I slowly discovered and developed through the years – I sing, I dance, I compose poems and stories, I draw, paint and design things. These slowly helped build my self-confidence.

As I grew older and knew God deeper, I began to realize the value these talents. God is a God who gives and takes away. All of my talents, skills and intelligence came from the Lord. I am simply a steward. I am to use them to glorify His name. Knowing this made me realize where I really stand before God. I am nothing. He is everything. I have nothing to brag about.

It was through God’s grace that I’ve become who I am right now. It’s through His grace that I am able to enjoy His overflowing blessings. It is through God’s grace that I’m standing amidst any trying circumstance.

For this, I will remember – the ups and down, the gladness and sorrows, the joy and pain - because through all these I was able to know God more and experience His love and grace. 

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Psalm 139:1-18,23-24

O Lord, You have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.
You go before me and follow me.
You place Your hand of blessing on my head.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!
I can never escape from Your Spirit!
I can never get away from Your presence!
If I go up to heaven, You are there;
if I go down to the grave, You are there.
If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there Your hand will guide me,
and Your strength will support me.
I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night—
but even in darkness I cannot hide from You.
To You the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are the same to You.

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in Your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.

How precious are Your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!
I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
You are still with me!

Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,

and lead me along the path of everlasting life.


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