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LifeBlog
God is Gracious by the Road
John Bidaurreta
Grace- defined
a) that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech
b) good will, loving-kindness, favor
c) the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God.
d) the influence or spirit of God operating in humans to regenerate or strengthen them.
The Lord sometimes speaks to me through interesting and unusual ways. Take last month for example, I was doing sermon preparation and I was led to do a word study of my own name. John comes from the Hebrew name Yochanan (יוחנן) meaning "Yahweh is gracious," and Bidaurreta is Basque, which can basically be translated "by the road" or "in front of the path."
There is a message in the meaning of my name, "God is Gracious by the Road". Wherever you are at in your journey of life, the Lord is standing right beside you with a fresh outpouring of His grace. All we have to do is to ask him. King David cries out for a fresh infusion of grace in the last verses of Psalm 86:
But you, O God, are both tender and kind,
not easily angered, immense in love,
and you never, never quit.
So look me in the eye and show kindness,
give your servant the strength to go on,
save your dear, dear child!
Make a show of how much you love me
so the bullies who hate me will stand there slack-jawed,
As you, God, gently and powerfully
put me back on my feet.
We can learn many things from King David's example, for instance:
1) He started out by declaring the goodness and graciousness of God
2) David asked next for God's mercy and strength
3) Later we see David's prayer that God's grace in his life becomes a testimony for others to see
Lord Jesus, thank you for the daily outpouring of your grace. |
