By Lorrie Flem
Imagine that your computer crashes right after you finished catching up your family budget information and your daughter finally completed her co-op history report. Ouch! These situations turn black hair gray instantaneously, without the help of bleach! If you had Microsoft's Windows operating system called Windows "Me" - short for Windows Millennial Edition it would be no problem. One of its features sounds wonderful. With Me all you have to do is type in the date you want your system restored to and voila! Things are put back as they were before.
I can think of many times in my life when I wish I had that feature. I could hit my "system restore" button to the day before I dripped acetone on the microwave (acetone ruins plastic, trust me on this one!) or to the day prior to when I gossiped, or … you get the idea. My personal system crashes all the time thanks to my sinful nature and I would love to be able to restore things to the way they were.
God doesn't actually erase the consequences of our actions, but He promises something even better, to forgive us, to work things out for our good because we love Him. He takes the bad and will make it new and good. What Windows Me calls "system restore" God calls grace.
GRATEFUL FOR GRACE
We cannot ever erase or atone for our sins. Two issues ago we explored forgiveness. What beautiful gift forgiveness is. No matter what, we can be forgiven. No matter what, your debt can be paid in full by the grace of God. Imagine that.
How can you ever make up for the wrong you have done? You can't. God's grace can. Envision grace. Imagine this, you can be made spotless of your sins-regardless of what they are, regardless of how often you have committed this sin-even when you haven't corrected the wrong yourself. That is grace, getting what you do not deserve. Wow! Isn’t that just almost too much to comprehend?
GRACE FULL RUTH
When we look at the story of Ruth in the Bible we see a beautiful illustration of the grace of God. Ruth and her mother-in-law were widows. In Bible times widows were lonely, forgotten women. In the story of Ruth we see God's heart and grace toward widows.
In the first chapter we learn that Ruth is gleaning in a field of Boaz who, unbeknownst to her is a wealthy relative of her husbands. As a result of this relationship Boaz will be able to protect her but at the time Ruth does not know this. She is simply doing what she has to do. She is out in the hot son, gleaning with the lowest people on the totem pole. But by her obedience she is going to realize blessings in her life. This field is going to be a field of grace for her.
God ministered to Ruth when she was faithfully doing her work. When we are faithful in our daily responsibilities; homeschool, dirty diaper changing, lunches made, laundry done, housework, etc., we find God's grace in His provision. We don't find the grace of God when we are home feeling depressed, forgotten, or looking to others to meet our needs. Only when we get up and go do what we have been given to do will we find God meeting us there with His grace.
Boaz said to Ruth, "My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field, and don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. Watch the field where the men are harvesting and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. Whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled." Ruth 2:8
Now when Boaz tells Ruth to not go to another field to glean remember that neither of them knows or even senses what is about to happen. Ruth is simply faithfully doing the hard work required of her in order to eat and Boaz is just displaying generosity and kindness. According to the law Boaz only has to leave enough grain in the corners of the field for the gleaners. (1) But instead he displays the heart of God and does more than he is asked to do, he is showing grace.
If we think of this as a field of grace we see Boaz saying to Ruth, "Don't go elsewhere to get your needs taken care of. God's grace will provide for you right here. Satan is always tempting us to look at the greener grass in the other field. He wants us to look for God in other places and not faithfully do the work that has been assigned to us. Yet when we leave the field of grace where God has provided for all of our needs we find ourselves in a work-oriented religion. We find ourselves faced with spiritual hoops we have to jump through. We try to perform and live by the law that cannot save us or meet our needs.
Everything we need is given to us in our assigned field. We don't need to leave in order to find it. All the grace we need is there as a free gift for us. There are no qualifications on it. It is a gift.
HUMBLE GRACE
Have you heard the little ditty, "The Will of God will never lead you where the Grace of God cannot keep you?" Ruth could attest to the truth of this statement. Grace is the power and the desire to do God's will. It comes from our Father. God not only gives us the power to do what He wants, but also the desire to do it. That desire comes from God's energizing Spirit within us that gives us the ability to do things we cannot do in and of ourselves.
So this is not something natural. It's supernatural. How do we get supernatural grace in the everyday difficulties we encounter? It is when we are at the end of ourselves and are willing to accept the strength, wisdom, and power beyond our own. That comes from our Father. It comes through His Word. It comes in humility, just acknowledging we do not have what we need apart from Him.
That word "humility" - perhaps that's the key to all of this. The Scripture says in 1 Peter and in James, "God pours grace on the humble." Honesty is part of humility – going before the Lord and saying, "I cannot handle this situation. I need You Lord, to love through me, to respond through me, to live Your life through me." That humility is what brings the grace of God to bear in our lives, and then gives us, by His grace, the desire and the power to be the obedient woman God wants us to be in any situation - no matter how difficult.
REDEEMING GRACE
Just as God favored Ruth, God has graciously favored each one of us. We have been graciously accepted through Christ. He has chosen YOU to be His representative, to reflect His glory in this world that so desperately needs to see Him. Do you feel unable?
Are you depending on the power of the Holy Spirit to be and do what God has chosen for you? Think about the responsibilities that God has given you as a woman in this season of your life. Are you consciously depending on the power of the Holy Spirit? Are you seeking a fresh, daily filling of His Holy Spirit in your life?
When you became a Christian, the Bible says the Holy Spirit began to live inside of you. He has never left. Yet we are told we are to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit. One of my usual prayers is, "Lord, please fill me with Your Holy Spirit today. I am doing things I have done a hundred times before. I think I'm experienced yet I know that apart from You, nothing of eternal significance will be accomplished today. So, Lord, I ask You to overshadow me, to fill me with Your Spirit. Only then, I know that the results of my work today will be truly supernatural."
Remember God's promise to use everything for good to those who love Him? In Ruth's case we get to see how He redeemed her hardship. She stoops so low, she has to glean corn in order to eat but God had a plan He works out in remarkable circumstances. Ruth's humility and diligence in gleaming corn, God's providential grace directing her to Boaz's field, the great favor Boaz showed her in many instances (verses 4–16), and Ruth's return to Naomi, were all steps for Ruth and Boaz to become Jess's grandparents. Jesse's youngest son was King David. Ruth, of the Gentile church, was grafted into the line of Christ the King and taken in among his ancestors. (Isaiah 54:1)
A SANDWICH OF GRACE
The other day one of the boys had been a poor worker. I could hardly get him out the door in the first place and when he finally did meander outside he had a bad attitude to boot. He seemed disgruntled that we would even consider asking him to help, I'm sure you know all too well what I mean. I called the principal and consulted with him. Randy and I discussed and lamented our horrible parenting and basically decided we didn’t know what to do. After hanging up I went to make sandwiches for lunch. Since I had already told this son he would not be having lunch that day I made one fewer than usual.
As I prayed and spread mayonnaise I heard the Lord prompting me. I felt like He wanted me to make a sandwich for the bad attitude boy. I argued with God in my head, "Lord, I need to follow through with what I said. If I don't he won’t believe me in the future. Besides, he doesn't deserve…" When the word "deserve" registered in my brain I realized that I always say how thankful I am that I am not going to get what I "deserve." I deserve Hell but I am getting heaven. Wow!
This was when I realized that I had been presented with the perfect opportunity to show this son what grace is. I walked outside with the extra sandwich secreted away in my pocket and said, "Do you know what grace means?" He said, "yes." When I asked him to define it he hummed and hawed and little and with the grumpy scowl still firmly in place, said with just a hint of a sheepish grin, "I guess I really don’t." I reached in my pocket and handed him a sandwich saying, "This is grace."
His grin grew and turned into a full-force beam of gratefulness. That was my invitation. I knew he was listening. I explained that grace is getting what we don't deserve. He didn't deserve this sandwich but because I wanted him to truly understand what God's grace is this was a small picture of it. He took the sandwich with this smile that warmed my heart and said, "Thanks mom!" After a pause he continued, "I love you, mom. Not just for letting me have a sandwich but for loving me."
What he meant was, "Thank you for extending grace to me." Grace is getting what we don't deserve. That is what Jesus did for you and I when he hung on a cross to cleanse us from our own sins.
When I ask my children to pick something up and put it away it is not uncommon to see them pick up more than I ask them to. You earn high praise in our home if you do more than mommy asks you to do and my children are no different than yours. They thrive on the praise and in the process they are learning what the grace of God means in their lives. When they go the extra mile I always try to make sure I remind them this is what Jesus did for them. He did more than they would have ever asked for or dreamed of. This is grace. I've seen good things happen in other Christian's lives when I've felt like they don't deserve it. That is grace. I've decided I'll never understand it, but I am sure grateful for it!! Imagine that.
(1) The corners of fields were not to be reaped, and the sheaf accidentally left behind was not to be taken away, according to the law of Moses (Leviticus 19:9; 23:22; Deuteronomy 24:21) They were to be left for the poor to glean. Similar laws were given regarding vineyards and olive yards.
2 Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
Lorrie Flem has been honored to be the happy rib of Randy for 20 years. They make their home in Maple Valley, Washington until they reach the mansion Jesus is preparing for them. She considers it a privilege to be a stay-at-home homeschooling mom to their always precious and often precocious eight children.
Lorrie has always been prone to talk and as a result she has written a number of books, is the publisher of TEACH Magazine, a FREE bi-monthly ezine, and speaks nationally at conferences, retreats, and teas. Lorrie is known for her humorous and gentle words of encouragement to other keepers of the home. See her and get a sample of TEACH – The Magazine that Puts the Home in Homeschooling – For Mothers of Today with Yesterday’s Values, at www.TEACHmagazine.com.
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