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“That in the ages to come he [God] might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:7)

Not very long ago, a six-year-old boy named Andrew was saving money for a trip to Mexico with his family. His grandmother paid him a few dollars for doing some chores for her, and then right before he left on the trip, she decided to give him some extra spending money. When he saw how much it was, he couldn’t believe it. “Wow, twenty dollars!” he hollered, dancing around in a circle. He ran home to show his mom the $20 bill. “Look, Mom! Now I know what it feels like to be rich!”

Maybe getting a crisp $20 bill when it was not even your birthday would make you feel rich, too. Or maybe it would take a $100 bill. Maybe it might take a million before you would feel “rich.” No matter how much money you got, though, your riches could never compare to God’s. Not only does God own everything in the world, He has another kind of riches: riches of grace.

Grace is giving something good to someone who does not deserve it. Every person who is now saved once lived in total disobedience to God. Their lives were all about pleasing themselves and ignoring God. It does not seem fair that those people would get any special attention from Him, much less the chance to be in heaven with Him.

If God were fair, He would not give those people anything good. They do not deserve anything except to be punished! But God is not fair; He does not give people what they deserve. Instead, He is gracious. He does not give up on people who couldn’t care less about Him. Because He loves them – even though they are “dead in sins” – He gives them life.

Because God has exceeding riches of grace, He doesn’t have to be stingy with it. He doesn’t have to save up His grace to spend only on people who are trying hard to be good. Instead, since He has plenty of grace to spare, He pours it out on people who don’t deserve it.

The main reason Andrew’s grandmother gave him $20 was that she loved him. In Ephesians 2:4, Paul says that God’s reason for giving is the same: He gives His children salvation because of “the great love wherewith he loved us.” Just as Andrew did not do anything to earn his $20, God’s children cannot do anything to earn God’s gifts, either. God gives good gifts just because He loves His children.

Andrew’s grandmother is not rich enough to walk around town giving $20 bills to every little boy she sees. She decided to give one to Andrew, though, because she already had a special relationship with him. But for God to have exceeding riches of grace means that He can give grace even to people who are dead-set against Him.

God pours out the exceeding riches of His grace on people who do not deserve them.

My Response:
» Have I thanked God for spending some of His riches of grace on me even though I didn’t deserve them? Or have I thought that I earned them by something good that I did? (Read Ephesians 2:8-10 if you want to learn more about this.)

“Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.” (1 Kings 18:38)

Elijah asked, and God responded immediately. The prophets of Baal spent all day trying to call down fire from heaven, and nothing happened, because Baal was a false god. But as soon as Elijah prayed, God sent fire from heaven that burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dirt, and even the water in the trench around the altar. God was not asleep or on vacation; He was not surprised or startled. He heard Elijah’s prayer and answered him.

Sometimes when you pray, you might think that God does not hear, or that He is too busy to listen, or that you are not important enough to Him. All of these are lies of the Devil. The Bible says God hears the prayers of His children and always gives them what is best. God always knows and does what is best, even though sometimes you might think He does not know what He is doing. Just as He did for Elijah, He will always prove Himself mighty and worthy of your worship.

Even though God is always awake and never sleeps, sometimes Christians sleep spiritually. How do they do that? They choose not to go to church, or fail to read God’s Word and talk to Him in prayer. They forget God and live as though He cannot see them. But God never rests, He wants you to come to Him and spent time with Him. He wants you to talk to Him – to tell Him the good and bad things that have happened today. He wants you to tell Him your needs, so He can show you His mighty hand. He is always there and always hears you when you pray.

God never sleeps and always watches over His children.

My Response:
» Do you live as if God is sleeping and cannot see you?
» Do you believe that God knows everything about you and never sleeps?
» What would you do differently if you could see God standing right beside you?

“But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity.” (Psalm 78:36-38)

David’s musician Asaph wrote a poem, Psalm 78, that tells part of Israel’s story. That story shows just how sinful God’s people are, but it shows, too, just how kind God is toward His sinful people.

The awe-inspiring God made an agreement with the tiny nation Israel: He would be their own God, and they would be His own people. Of course, the Israelites felt so thankful for God’s kindness that they did everything He asked. Right?

Not exactly. Asaph says, in fact, that the Israelites “kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had showed them.” Still, God showed His people kindness. He performed a miracle to rescue them at the Red Sea, and He led them with a cloud and with fire in the wilderness, and when they were thirsty He made water gush out of a rock.

But the Israelites refused to trust the God who had been so kind to them. Instead, they challenged Him. Yes, they said, God performed a miracle when we needed water. But can He give us bread, too?

Was God so frustrated with the Israelites that He abandoned them? Actually, God “opened the doors of heaven” and gave the Israelites food. And in response to God’s amazing kindness, the Israelites…kept on sinning.

And God kept on showing kindness. This time His kindness took the form of punishment, meant to bring the Israelites back to Him. In spite of “all this,” Asaph says, “they sinned still, and believed not.” Did God say “I’ve had enough”? No again; He dealt with His people, punishing them so that they would turn around. And they did turn around, for a while, but “their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.” But God didn’t give up. Instead, “being full of compassion,” He “forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not.”

Is Asaph’s story becoming a bit predictable? Asaph must have felt the same way, because he sums up a lot of history in a few lines: “many a time [God] turned…his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.”

God shows kindness toward sinners, doing good to them even though they hurt Him over and over again.

My Response:
» Do I ignore God’s kindness? Or do I allow God’s kindness to turn me back to Him?

“Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” (Psalm 27:14)

You probably know what it is like to wait for something. Maybe you wait for the bus to come and take you to school, you wait in lines when you go shopping, you wait for the school year to end and for the summer to come, you count down the days until Christmas, and you cannot wait to be old enough. Sometimes when you are waiting, you become impatient. You want everything to happen right now! But your timing is not always the best.

The Bible says that God, your Heavenly Father, knows what is best for His people (Jeremiah 29:11). God knows everything. He knows your past, present, and future. He knows exactly when you need something, and He knows the best time to give it to you. He knew the best time to give Abraham his promised son (Genesis 21), He knew the best time to bring Joseph into Pharaoh’s court (Genesis 40-41), and He knew the best time to send the long-awaited Messiah to provide salvation for lost people (John 1). He knows what is best for you and asks you to wait for Him.

But sometimes it is hard to wait. Maybe you are waiting for your broken leg to heal, so you can play sports again. Maybe you are waiting for God to heal your mom from a serious illness. Maybe you are waiting for God to provide your dad a job. You pray and ask God to heal your leg, to heal your mom, or to provide your dad a job, but God does not seem to answer. He is asking you to wait. He is asking you to trust that He knows what is best and will do what is best for you. Wait on the LORD and trust Him.

God’s timing is always best, and we should wait on the LORD.

My Response:
» What am I waiting for the LORD to do?
» Do I trust the LORD to do what’s best and to answer in His timing?
» Am I angry with God making me wait? Do I need to confess my sin of anger?