Grace. This word has been around me constantly for over a week now and I know why. For over 40 days I have been stuck in my house with an abundance of time on my hands to sit before the Lord. Have I? No. At least not like I know I could or rather should be. This has weighed heavily on my mind and I feel the guilt, but not enough to change what I’m doing. Every day I think, I’ll do that tomorrow! Then I wake to a new day and “tomorrow” never comes.
I praise God that His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23) because Lord knows I need them! I think of that scripture every day with a hope to do better the next. But then I wonder why it is that the scripture has “mercy” in it, but God keeps telling me “grace”. Mercy is when God keeps us from getting what we deserve while grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve. They are not the same thing.
Every day I thank Him for His perfect and unending mercy, because His promise of tomorrow is fulfilled when my promise of tomorrow is not. My broken promise is given the gift of His mercy, but He tells me grace! He has not only kept me from getting what I deserve, but He has given me what I don’t deserve. I don’t deserve His mercy, but His grace extends it to me. This thought alone is enough to bring me to my knees.
I’ve had the song “Holy Water” by We The Kingdom on repeat for this reason.
“I don’t want to abuse Your grace
God, I need it every day
It’s the only thing that ever really makes me want to change”
The only thing that makes me want to change! When God told me that His grace is the reason I have His mercy, it was enough to make me want to change. I don’t want to abuse or take advantage of His grace! He is faithful to His promise of new mercies every day. With that, I have hope for tomorrow. Why? Because my tomorrow finally came, it is today!
Sunshine and Whispers 