Grace…for Today! …I thought you may enjoy some grace for your weekend musings! Grace is a word easily used but poorly shared. I find that to be so sad because God IS grace and God never withholds grace from us even though we don’t deserve it. So why is it so hard to share grace with others? I have been taking a little study amongst folks in the campground, friends, etc. My question has been, “how are you doing, how’s life in your tribe?” Here’s some of their answers:

  • What a slog of awful weather, so bleak. I am so tired of gray clouds and flooding rains.
  • My soul feels gray and fragile. And I just feel so isolated sometimes.
  • My health challenges leave me battling fatigue and way too much anxiety. I’m just weary.
  • I find myself scrambling for answers and it seems God isn’t hearing me.
  • I lift a prayer up but I think it falls before it lands with the Almighty.

You probably can add more to these as we all go through life’s travails. But here is one friend of mine who answered at bit differently: “You know our family issues and health problems. I admit it can be a downer each day with what we are going through. Some days I have a one-way talk with God because I can get so angry—then I have to repent! The other day, though, God literally spoke to me. It was a quiet breathy sound but the three words resonated in my entire body, “grace for today.”

Ah…Grace for today. Not talking about the future, just today and just what we need: Grace! In our wanderings, we are often like the Israelites in the desert, weary, wondering where our next meal might come from and what the next day will bring. Remember what God did? God told Moses to give these specifics in Exodus 16:4 [CEV]:

The Lord said to Moses, “I will send
bread down from heaven like rain.
Tell the people to go out each day and
gather only enough for that day.
That’s how I will see if they obey me.

Let’s apply that to our situations, like my friend heard. Look for grace for today—and just today because God will give us all the provision we need for today. What “manna” will feed you, fill you, give you peace, calm your anxiety, etc.? Only one source for manna and that source is God and God alone.

We have days when we cannot think past today and we’re pretty good at exhausting ourselves in what my friend calls “the churning minutiae of why-who-what-when-how” of daily living. On those days she hears the words “grace for today” and that is sufficient for her. Does it stop her worries, not as much as she’d like but it gives her inner peace knowing that she has a good God, filled with mercy and grace in any time of need.

You know what this means though? The “why-who-what-when-how” has to be handed over to the Lord. We have to “take our hands off of this” and take the step of trust in the faith we have in God to take care of us—perfectly—every-single-day! And therein lies the problem, right? We exhaust ourselves doing everything we can our way first—doesn’t work one bit.

Think of your past—how many times has God made a way when you think there is no way? How many days of grace and blessings have you had—can you even count them all? We need to hold fast to God’s promises and trust that God is at work always—always! Think of the grace you have received, poured out like a flood over you—so now do likewise with others who need a touch of grace to hold on to.

In closing, my dear friend would tell us, “Nothing is out of reach for God and just because what lies ahead is not revealed doesn’t mean God doesn’t know it.” God holds each of us in his infinite and powerful hands every moment of our days. It is here that we rest and experience grace…for today… AMEN!