Julia Johnston wrote the beautiful
hymn “Grace Greater Than Our Sin”. Those
five words echo across the pages of Scripture in response to the sinful deeds
of men of faith. In Hebrews 11 God calls
Jacob a man of faith. In Genesis 27 we
see him more as a man of spiritual failure.
How are these opposites resolved? It is done by our hymn title today.
Before his birth in Genesis 25, God
had chosen Jacob over his older brother Esau.
That was an eternal and divine choice.
Jacob only needed to wait upon God to fulfill it. To him were the promises and the covenant by the
will of God. By faith Rebekah could have
waited for God to fulfill that promise.
By faith Jacob could have waited for God to fulfill that promise. The word of God is sure and will stand. By faith we are to believe it and trust Him
to complete it.
But all too often that is not the
way we live. Jacob and Rebekah lost
sight of their faith in God’s promises and sought to accomplish God’s goals by
sinful human means. First Jacob had Esau
trade a bowl of soup for his birthright.
There was no love or care for his brother in that selfish act. Then Rebekah and Jacob conspired to deceive
Isaac to give Jacob the blessing. There
is a clear violation of the 9th commandment. The sinful nature won out over faith. Could such a thing succeed?
The wages of this sin caused Jacob
to be an exile from his family for 20 years.
It cost Rebekah the joy of the fellowship of her favorite son for 20
years. It cost a breach between the
brothers, Jacob and Esau, which lasted for a thousand years. The stain of this
compulsive sin was reenacted in the lives of Jacob’s own sons. There were wages of this sin. But God’s grace was not subdued. God appeared to Jacob, guided Jacob, blessed
Jacob and quickened Jacob into being a new man with a new name, Israel. God’s grace was greater than Jacob’s sin.
The same is true throughout
time. The same is true for us
today. As Julia Johnston wrote it is
“grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt”.
As she wrote in the second verse, “Sin and despair like the sea waves
cold, threaten the soul with infinite loss”.
That was surely true of Jacob and all sinners for all time. But there is more. That despair should show us a “grace that is
greater, yes grace untold” that “points to the refuge the mighty cross.” If you have run ahead of God, or away from
God, run back to His grace. Run with
simple confession to His marvelous Cross of grace. Be restored in His grace today.
You
may also enjoy this inspirational devotional book, The Gospel According to Molly,
available
here:
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