Sermons and Devotions

By God's Grace*

Habakkuk 3:17-19

"¹⁷Even though the fig trees have no fruit and no grapes grow on the vines, even though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no grain, even though the sheep all die and the cattle stalls are empty, ¹⁸I will still be joyful and glad, because the Lord God is my savior. ¹⁹The Sovereign Lord gives me strength. He makes me sure-footed as a deer and keeps me safe on the mountains."

Patrick sent an email last week about making our potentials grow to its fullest. In that email he mentioned that growth potentials was suggested to thrive in favorable conditions. That each one of us would grow when we surround ourselves with people and opportunities conducive to our development. At the end of the email he asked a thought for us to ponder-- "Is your current environment conducive to growth?" Silently, I answered, "Yes!"

And I thanked God because I know that it is by His grace that I am where I am now.

When I was requested last Friday to lead our devotion this morning I was told that the theme for our reflection this morning is "by God's grace". I asked the Lord to teach me what to share this morning and Patrick's email came to my mind.

I pondered on the list of the good environment that would usher a person grow to his/her full potentials. In that list I saw God's faithfulness to His promises to all His children who will trust in Him. I say that because I know He is the One who ordered my steps and has given me privileges to serve Him in manners that I know not possible had I done it in my own efforts.

In my journey of faith, I find the grace of God so rich and bountiful. And I realized that He is the only one who can surround me with people and opportunities so I may be able to accomplish His plans in my life.

There were many times in my life when I felt so comfortable and confident on what I can do but in most of those times I find myself that there are so many things around me that I cannot control that would usher my stress level to rise that I have to cry before the presence of God for help. And every time I cried unto the Lord asking for help, He is always faithful to come and help me; and remind me that I should rely in Him and in Him alone-- not to myself or to anything in this world. I have to trust Him and Him alone if I desire to move forward and find meaning, purpose and fulfillment in my being. After all He is the One who created me and He created me not for my own purpose but for His purpose.

Little by little, after so many challenges and victories, I learned to trust in Him and just relied everything in my life upon Him; and little by little I find that life is much easier and fulfilling.

Entrusting our lives to our Creator is the best thing that we could do for ourselves if we desire that at the end of our life's journey we would say, "We were able to accomplish what we needed to."

While most of us knew this principle already, however, I believe that most of us are also aware that trusting God in all things in our lives is easier said than done.

Most of us are attuned to relying on the things that we see and know. If we are given options to choose from among so many choices in life, most of us are attuned to choose those things which we believe would usher us into a much better life. And even if we believe that God has given us much greater things than what this world can offer, oftentimes we define a much better life in accordance to how this world define it to be. Successful career, bigger bank deposits, better house to dwell and other things related to that category. And many times in our lives we ask the Lord, claiming on His grace and mercy, to provide us those things that we love in this world.

Many times, though, we hear the Lord say, "My grace is sufficient for you."

When God told the Apostle Paul that "My grace is sufficient for you" Paul at that time was not asking for a successful career nor better house to dwell; he just asked the Lord to remove the thorn in the flesh that had troubled him so much that he had to ask the Lord three times to remove it. And God in all His grace and mercy just replied Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you." And God explained to the apostle that even if He did not answer Paul positively by taking out the thorn of his flesh it did not mean that He did not listen to him. Rather He allowed it to happen so that Paul would be dependent upon Him and in Him alone. God told Paul, "My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak."

And indeed, to everyone who will trust the Lord, they would find that in times of their weaknesses and shortcomings will also be the best times to come to the presence of the Living God; and every time they would come to His presence they would also see and taste that His power and grace would manifest best in their lives. And the best times in their lives are not in those times when they were strong and comfortable rather in times when they realized that they have no other option but just to rely upon God and let Him do the things that He wanted to accomplish for them.

Well, as we serve together as ministry workers for the Lord through SP, we need to continue relying on the God's grace and direction so that we would find joy and fulfillment in life beyond what we expected to have.

We may not be able to control the environment that surround us but we could trust that God's grace is sufficient for us in all moments in our lives.

We might have challenges that would seem so hard and difficult considering our limitations and shortcomings but we just have to learn to trust that God's grace is sufficient for us and we need to thank Him for those challenges because those would usher us to rely on Him more and more.

We might have prayers that we had been asking the Lord and we feel that God seems quite about it; but we just have to trust the Lord that His grace is sufficient for us and He knows what is best for us at all times.

Our text tells us of the conviction of the Prophet Habakkuk in midst of his struggles in his time. He asked the Lord "²O Lord, how long must I call for help before you listen, before you save us from violence? ³Why do you make me see such trouble? How can you stand to look on such wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are all around me, and there is fighting and quarreling everywhere. ⁴The law is weak and useless, and justice is never done. Evil people get the better of the righteous, and so justice is perverted."

If we read God's reply to Habakkuk we find that His answer was way beyond what the prophet was expecting. God's ways are different and higher than what we can think of. But every time He moves and answer our prayers rest assured that He does those to accomplish His own purposes and it would result for our own good.

And the Prophet Habakkuk just trusted the Lord of the heavens and the earth despite the fact that he was surrounded by circumstances that he did not like nor understand. He said, "¹⁷Even though the fig trees have no fruit and no grapes grow on the vines, even though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no grain, even though the sheep all die and the cattle stalls are empty, ¹⁸I will still be joyful and glad, because the Lord God is my savior. ¹⁹The Sovereign Lord gives me strength. He makes me sure-footed as a deer and keeps me safe on the mountains."

When we talk about God's grace we can rest upon a sure foundation that it is sufficient for us in all our circumstances. Amen.

*Devotion delivered on May 5, 2014 to SP PP Office staff.