to you the helpless commits himself;
you have been the helper of the fatherless. ~ Psalm 10:14b (ESV)
We (I) need reminders of two important components of the Christian life — grace and salvation. God LOVES the lost. He is relentlessly seeking them out, chasing them down, driving them home. To Him.
We were all there once. Lost. Alone. Confused. Aimless. In need of a Savior.
So many great quotes in Philip Yancy’s book, What’s So Amazing About Grace, but the one that keeps coming back to me is a re-quote from his earlier book:
A prostitute came to me in wretched straits, homeless, sick, unable to buy food for her two-year-old daughter. Through sobs and tears, she told me she had been renting out her daughter — two years old! — to men interested in kinky sex. She made more renting out her daughter for an hour than she could earn on her own in a night. She had to do it, she said, to support her own drug habit. I could hardly bear hearing her sordid story. For one thing, it made me legally liable — I’m required to report cases of child abuse. I had no idea what to say to this woman.
At last I asked if she had ever thought of going to a church for help. I will never forget the look of pure, naive shock that crossed her face. “Church!” she cried. “Why would I ever go there? I was already feeling terrible about myself. They’d just make me feel worse.”
He went on to point out that the troubled people in Jesus’ day ran to Him. If we channel God’s grace as we should, we would not be able to keep the needy, the lost away!
God helps the fatherless. Not in a “here’s a Christmas gift while your dad’s in jail” kind of way, but in a life-altering, doesn’t give up, I’ll stay after you like I would a lost sheep or coin kind of way. (Luke 15) He doesn’t quit until He overwhelms their need with Himself.
I forget the power of His grace. I forget the awesomeness of salvation that kicks off a party in heaven.
This baffles the world. They want justice, fairness, world peace, no more starving kids so they can sleep at night. God has a completely different agenda. Some of it might look the same externally, but grace drives the heart to never quit.
When the prodigal son comes dejectedly back home, just hoping for a spot at the bottom of the payroll, his dad runs to greet him! I love how the father completely ignores the son’s carefully prepared speech and jumps in with words he’s been waiting years to say.
Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ (Luke 15 ESV)
Thank you, Father God, for your relentless love. It makes no human sense to love me the way you do. Your grace is completely incomprehensible. Help me pour it out to others as freely as you have on me. Bring to mind often the joy of salvation that I may also seek that joy for those you bring across my path. Use me, Lord, everyday, as often as you can.
In Jesus Name, Amen.
Sixty-six books in a year 