The Promise of Mercy & Grace
My wife, Choon Peng, had first hand experience finding out about
“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so
that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of
need. “ (Hebrews 4:16)
Mercy is not getting what we deserve.
Grace is getting what we don’t deserve.
It is grace and mercy that often gets us out of trouble.
We all have burdens and concerns that sometimes keep us awake at
night. Like last Wednesday when we just came back from my in-
laws’ place in Penang, I suddenly got a message in the evening that
there was a big problem in a project that I was handling. It just
upset my mood for the whole evening. And the only thing that I
could do was cry out, “God, help me. God, have mercy.”
Hebrews 4:16 tells us that we can receive mercy and find grace in
our time of need. “In our time of need” literally means “at the right
moment.” God’s answers are always perfectly timed. Seldom early
and never late.
The cars that we drive comes with an air bag. Or rather a few air
bags, in the driver’s seat, passenger’s seat, rear seats. You’ve never
seen the air bags. But they told you, as soon as you hit something
head-on, it’s going to explode. It’s going to catch you like a down
pillow. It will be nice. And it will save your life.
Have you ever seen the air-bags in your car?
Is it there?
You don’t know.
You hope it is there.
When are you going to find out?
When you need it.
the air bag in her car. She tried to avoid a Styrofoam box in the
middle of the NPE, lost control and hit into the concrete crash
barrier and the car overturned. And the air-bag exploded and
cushioned her from hitting the windscreen or the steering wheel.
It worked! She crawled out safely from the overturned car with
hardly a scratch on her. It was a miracle!
Like an airbag, when we need divine intervention, God is going to
be there. We cannot see it right now. But we will receive mercy and
find grace just at the time when we need it.
So, what do we do in the meantime? In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us
not to worry about tomorrow, because all our worrying today is not
going to change one second of tomorrow. You just trust God and
seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
things shall be added unto you.
God already knows what is going to happen tomorrow, and the day
after, and the days after that. And He has promised to be with you
no matter what happens.
So, as we stand on the threshold of 2018 and get ready to enter into
2019, let us remember that God has promised to never leave us nor
forsake us. He is with us when we feel His presence, and He is with
us even during the times when we feel nothing at all.
God is faithful. And He is in control.
227 Great Is Thy Faithfulness