To Encourage You

Hebrews 11:31 “By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient.”

One of the things that I am very thankful for is how the Bible doesn’t hide the faults of the saints.  It presents their lives warts and all, and it does this for a very specific reason.  God wants us to realize that He sent His Son into the world to save sinners – and He’s been very successful at it!  Paul saw himself as one of the worst sinners who ever lived (1 Timothy 1:15), and he never got over the fact that Jesus had saved even him!  In the verse above from Hebrews 11 the Scriptures single out Rahab as one of the heroes of the faith, yet it reminds us that she was also a prostitute.  David, a man after God’s own heart was a murderer and an adulterer.  Yet he was forgiven by God.  There have been many times over the years when I’ve been discouraged and even overwhelmed by my own sin. I can’t tell you how often I’ve found encouragement in the fact that God forgave people like Paul, David, and Rahab. It’s in accounts such as these that I’ve hung onto the hope that God could forgive me, though I didn’t deserve it, though I didn’t feel forgivable, and though I sometimes have felt that my sin goes beyond even the matchless grace of God. But it doesn’t. 

This morning as I ponder this I’m reminded of the hymn “Grace Greater than Our Sin.” Its wonderful words, which follow below, give hope to those who are weighed down by their sin as they point us to the God whose grace is greater than all of it.

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

Refrain:
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!

Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,
Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide;
What can we do to wash it away?
Look! There is flowing a crimson tide,
Brighter than snow you may be today.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
Freely bestowed on all who believe!
You that are longing to see His face,
Will you this moment His grace receive?