Grace to the Rescue

This morning I found myself in Psalms 106. I’ve read it before, but missed some key phrases and portions in previous times. I find this has happened to me many times before. God shines a light on exactly what you need from His word exactly when you need it!

Psalms 106:7-12 says “Our ancestors in Egypt were not impressed by the Lord ’s miraculous deeds. They soon forgot his many acts of kindness to them. Instead, they rebelled against him at the Red Sea. Even so, He saved them— to defend the honor of His name and to demonstrate his mighty power. He commanded the Red Sea to dry up. He led Israel across the sea as if it were a desert. So he rescued them from their enemies and redeemed them from their foes. Then the water returned and covered their enemies; not one of them survived. Then His people believed his promises. Then they sang his praise.”

After reading that I went back to the original story in Exodus to get a more complete overview. Exodus 14:10-14 says ”As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the Lord , and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!’” But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”'

As I looked at the text of Psalm 106 and Exodus 14, I noticed something. It is a look into the grace of God and what it is and isn’t, and how it operates. God’s grace is not based on us deserving it. God’s favor or grace is based on who He is and the promises He’s made.

Before reaching the Red Sea, the Israelites were able to walk out of Egypt with great riches, lacking nothing. (Exodus 12:34-36) Yet at the first sign of trouble, started to grumble and complain. When they approached the sea and saw the Egyptians also approaching, they rose their voices against Moses. They even had the gull to profess it was better to have stayed in Egypt! In the end, we know the sea did part, they crossed without harm, and the Egyptians pursuing all perished. All this happened despite the fact that the Israelites were in a state of complaining rather than gratitude or humility. They didn’t deserve God’s help. (Ps. 106:7-8) God delivered them to protect His name and in turn, God extended grace to them.

Back tracking further, Moses and Aaron had gone to pharaoh multiple times professing about this magnificent God. A God so powerful that plagues ransacked the land and even the pharaoh’s sorcerers couldn’t always duplicate or even stop the plagues. This magnificent God was supposedly stronger than the Egyptians and all their gods combined. What would God look like to all other nations if He failed to deliver on that reputation? God speaks in Exodus 14:18 “When my glory is displayed through them, all Egypt will see my glory and know that I am the Lord!” God preformed the miracle not for the Israelites, but despite them. Again, God was protecting His name, and handing out grace.

God’s grace is awesome, yet still in many ways remains a mystery. It is by definition unmerited or undeserved favor. However, there’s a natural pull to think we can earn it. Just like a child will sometimes try to earn their parents love by the things they do, we reflect that attitude onto God. If I’m a good enough Christian, God will bless me. If I help enough people, God will bless me. If I sacrifice enough, God will bless me. All of these things are false because if they were true then the definition of grace would also be false. So if deeds don’t earn us grace we also have to accept the opposite truth, deeds don’t disqualify us from grace.

Remember the Israelites had a long history of rebelling against God, speaking out against Him, and being ungrateful. Despite all this, God continued to bless Israel and even protect them from harm. (That doesn’t mean they didn’t suffer some consequences of their actions.) As much as I could harp on Israel’s imperfections, Israel represents in many ways humanity. We as humans love God when He’s doing things for us, but quickly turn our noses up when “He doesn’t do what we want” or adversity shows up. Israel also represents immaturity or an immature Christian. An immature believer packs up their bible when their first prayer isn’t answered. An immature believer sulks about things that happened 20 years ago. An immature believer blesses God one moment and curses Him the next. God is looking for and challenging us to grow up. To not take our toys and go home, but to decide to be unshakeable. That doesn’t mean we won’t have Jonah moments. That doesn’t mean we won’t have an Elijah moment either.

Case in point, Elijah witnessed God’s awesome power defeating the prophets of Baal. However as soon as Jezebel threatened him, he ran for the hills. (1 Kings 18,19) God had to show up and talk some sense into the prophet. So, it doesn't mean we won’t falter at times, but that we grow to a place that more times than not, we stand firm and rooted in our faith in God. Even still as we aim for moving from immaturity to maturity in God, we at no time in this process possess any more or any less grace!

Moreover as we move to understand God’s favor or grace, we also don’t aim to abuse it. If grace isn’t dependent on things we do then is that a license to do whatever we want? No. Paul addresses this. Romans 6:1-4 says “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”

Grace isn’t a license to do whatever we want if we understand what the sacrifice of Jesus was for. Jesus overcame sin once and for all. It was not so that we could take sin lightly, or negate it’s destructive power over our lives. We are to aim not to sin, but when we fall short, grace catches and covers us.

Lastly, understanding God’s grace leads us to live in peace during the trials of life. In 2 Corinthians 12:8-9, Paul talks about asking God to take away a burden from him or thorn in the flesh. God’s response was “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Despite what unsurmountable obstacle we may face today, God’s grace is enough to see us through it. Despite negative reports we’ve received, God’s favor, blessing, or approval is enough to see us through. God’s grace saw the Israelites through the Red Sea defying the laws of gravity. God’s manifestation of grace even shifted to meet Israel’s needs, adding an extra layer of protection to them. In Exodus 14:19 it says the Angel of the Lord that was in front of the Israelites as well as the cloud by day, moved to the back of the Israelite camp providing a shield from the Egyptians. God created a hedge of protection for His people and possibly made their pursers no longer visible to them. Whatever odds are against us, God has a plan of grace that is sufficient to bring us through.

If there is a Red Sea facing you today, know God’s grace is sufficient. Know today God may be speaking to you the words Moses gave in Exodus 14:13-14. “But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.” Stay calm and let God fight your battle. The problem you see “today” will not be there “tomorrow”. Pray God’s grace over your situation and see what happens.