In Gary Paxton’s Gospel song “He Was
There All the Time” he makes this simple statement about God’s grace, “He was
there all the time, waiting patiently in line”.
In chapter after chapter and book after book in the Bible we see the
unimaginable patience of God towards the subjects of His grace. He calls; He woos; He pleads. God’s loving grace is seen in the patience of
His grace. Our letter “P” will be
patient grace.
Imagine if God’s standard were “one
and done”. Humanity would have been
wiped out in Eden. When Moses asked
Pharaoh to let His people go, Pharaoh made their labor harder. The Israelites did not respond in faith
toward God when that happened. Israel
would still be in bondage to Egypt. David’s
kingdom would have come to an end after the incident with Bathsheba. Peter, the Christ denier, would be a footnote
to the history of the church. The
apostle Paul would have been struck dead by lightening instead of being struck
down by light.
Imagine if God’s standard were “one
and done” in our life. How many received
Christ as Savior on first hearing the Gospel?
How many have walked obediently with Christ every day since coming to
Him for salvation? How many trust Him
fully in every situation of life? We are
no different than Adam and Eve, the Israelites, David, Peter or Paul. We are human as they were. We may think it remarkable that God could be
so patient with them while we also need to be honest in how remarkable it is
how patient God is with us.
This patience of Grace, however, cannot
lead us to two false conclusions. The
first is that God’s patience extends beyond our death if we have rejected His
grace. It is appointed on to man once to
die and after that the judgment.
Judgment will be based on what we did with Christ. The other error is to think that God is
somehow so kindly viewing our constant rebellion that His grace will never
allow Him to correct it. Parental care
requires the correction of rebellion in the home and God’s loving parental
grace and care requires it in our lives as well. Still, His Grace is seen in His great
patience toward us as He woos the lost and shepherds His sheep. Sing through Gary Paxton’s song today and
praise God for His patient Grace.
You
may also enjoy this inspirational devotional book, The Gospel According to Molly,
available
here:
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