Monday 13 June 2005

I am not worthy

I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant...” - Genesis 32v10


Jacob continues to grow in his relationship with the Lord. He has not “arrived” yet, but is making great strides. Here Jacob has been told that Esau is looking for him and he knows the feelings that are there. He is afraid and begins all kinds of machinations to sort things out with Esau. Yet, in the midst of his schemings he stops and acknowledges some things to God.


“I am not worthy,” he says;

  1. of the least of your mercies

  2. of all the truth which thou hast shown to thy servant.


In spite of his problem Jacob knew some things that we miss sometimes. They is a movement in Christian circles that that says we can demand anything we want from God and that He is bound to give it to us. Whether we go that far or not we can often think about how “bad” we have it and that God should do better for us.


The truth is that God owes us nothing. Because of our sin we were the enemies of God before salvation. Yet, God showed His love for us through the fact that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. We are not even worthy of salvation, yet God in His mercy provides it for us. It is only of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning! Great is His faithfulness! We are not worthy to receive the great truths of His Word, yet He sent the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth.


We have so much to be thankful for simply in the mercy He shows and the truth He provides. That is why God can tell us in Philippians, “Be careful (full of cares) for nothing, but in EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication, with THANKSGIVING, let you request be made known unto God.”


May we thank God today for His mercy and His truth, of which none of us are worthy!

1 comment:

Naas Preacher said...

I agree. God is a God of grace, a "grace-ful" God if you may.

ALL that I have is by the grace of God. When I realise that I stop presuming on God to work the way I want Him to work and I trust His grace as all sufficient.