"See" the grace of God (2)

Tuesday January 11, 2022

"See" the grace of God (2)

“Give me back the joy of Your salvation.” Psalm 51. 14

In Antioch Barnabas saw divine grace in action, saving lost souls, conquering sin, spreading forgiveness, establishing love, arousing compassion in one another, restoring broken relationships, building His Church. And he was happy about it. It was Antioch, but today it could be any city in our regions. Do we see the miracles that God still performs in unbelieving hearts ? Do we rejoice like Barnabas ? Jesus said heaven and angels rejoice for every sinner saved. Does our heart leap for joy when salvation touches one of our loved ones, one of our friends, one of our acquaintances or do we accept it as almost normal ? Satan will do anything so that our eyes miss the divine miracles. Yet God Himself rejoices in the salvation He provides to lost sinners : “The Lord your God is in the midst of you a hero who saves. He will make you His greatest joy. He will keep silence in His love, and then He will rejoice with a loud cry over you” (Zephaniah 3:17). David understood the difference between benefiting from divine grace which is the source of salvation and all obedience to God's will and letting his heart explode with joy and expressions of gratitude, when he begs, after his fault with Batcheba : “Give me back the joy of Your salvation... Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will proclaim Your praise” (Psalm 51. 14, 17). In Bethlehem, for the birth of Christ, Luke tells us that an angel declared to the shepherds : “I bring you good news which will be a source of great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10) and consequently those- they “went away praising the glory of God and praising him for all they had heard and seen” (v. 20). Seeing the grace of God is synonymous with joy !

Source (His Word for Today)