As you read the bible, I hope you are looking for one of the most amazing aspects of this G-d we hardly know – and that is how Amazing is Our G-d’s Grace. It begins with Adam and Eve – right out of the shoot, they are disobedient – and though G-d could smite them and start again, instead they are sent forward into the world, still to experience the Grace of G-d. And then the Grace of G-d is unleashed into the world.

When you read the Bible it should be read with an ear expecting to be stunned at what you learn about G-d. I often talk to people who obviously know the Bible through and through. They can quote scripture without looking in the Bible. They often also have that smug pride about their knowledge. But I often have to question whether they “know” G-d. Oh they know the words about G-d, but do they understand that G-d is a G-d of Grace? So often they want to scare people into knowing G-d. But they are unleashing fear, not grace. We should always be amazed by G-d, especially by G-d’s amazing Grace.

I don’t think we have ever lived in a time where we know as much about the universe as we know today. And yet mysteries abound. We have drones flying over many parts of the country, especially the East Coast, and no one can say where they come from, and whose they are. We can pinpoint a missing person’s location to within two feet of their latitude and longitude, but we cannot say what is flying above our houses?

In the same manner, although we think we are getting closer to understanding the works of G-d, G-d still remains as mysterious as ever. The Bible itself is worth our study, not so we can brag about how much we know, but so we can live into the amazing Grace that the stories of the bible prove about G-d. And when we understand our G-d of Grace, we can unleash that Grace to others.

Pastor Dave