Grace

The first mention of "grace" in scripture is found in the story of Noah. The LORD had seen that  "...the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."  (Gen. 6:5). So thoroughly evil were not only the actions of men, but even their thoughts, that the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth. This evil condition of man grieved God in His heart. It was through men that the whole earth was filled with violence (v. 6, 13). This is also the first mention of "violence" in scripture, which means to tear away the covering from someone in order to do them harm.
As the LORD began to plan the destruction of man, Noah "found grace in the eyes of the LORD." (v. 8). The word "grace" is from the root word chanan, meaning to show favor, to pity, to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior. However, included in the meaning is the fact that grace has a causation by an imploring or beseeching. From this meaning, we can understand that Noah, seeing the condition of man around him, beseeched and implored God for grace. Noah found that grace because he implored God for it. The word "found" in v. 8 above, is the word matsa: to find, to find out, to come, to meet. In the Passover Seder, the matsa is covered, and part is even hidden, and it is an object that is to be sought and found. The person who finds the hidden matsa, which to Christians represents Jesus' burial and resurrection, receives a reward.
Noah "found" grace because he was seeking it in God.
Because Noah found the grace hidden in the eyes of God, the LORD called Noah just (to have a just cause), righteous, and perfect, meaning complete, whole, unimpaired (v. 9). Because he beseeched God for grace and found it, Noah walked with God. To walk with God can mean many things according to the definition of the Hebrew word. "Walked" can mean "to be conversant, to follow, to be led, to be carried, to be brought, and also, very importantly, to vanish".
Why was Noah's imploring God for grace so precious in God's eyes? Because, when Noah cried out for grace, he was prophetically crying out for God's precious Son, Jesus:

"For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."
                                                                             Jn. 1:17
                                                                 And
"...God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began."                                                                  2 Tim. 1:8-9

God's hand of grace in answer to Noah's imploring, or seeking, was the construction of the ark. 2 Pet. 2:5 tells us that Noah was a preacher of righteousness to the people of his generation. His generation did not receive his preaching, nor the testament of God's grace represented by the ark and, except for Noah's own household consisting of eight people, all  other people were lost in the judgment flood of the LORD. According to Jesus, the others, though warned, did not understand, nor expect, the suddenness and scope of the utter destruction that took them all (Mt. 24:39). The ark was shouting, "Grace, Grace," but no one took heed.
The story of Noah is also important in our time. All indications are that these are the last days before we see the return of Jesus. Jesus said that right before His coming, the times, conditions and circumstances would be very much like Noah's days (Mt. 24:36-39). Like Noah's generation, the warnings and preaching would be disregarded by that generation until the moment of the Son of Man's sudden coming.
A powerful testimony to the spiritual stature of Noah, who beseeched and found the grace of God, is told in 1 Pet. 3:18-20:
"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also, He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine long-suffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water."
In remembrance of Noah's cry for grace, even thousands of years later, the Holy Spirit led Christ after His death to preach to those who, through their own disobedience, were judged in the flood, and their souls condemned to prison. The Holy Spirit sent the personification of Grace to them, the same living and eternal Grace that Noah had beseeched of God. It is the same Grace who had put Himself into the violent hands of men. The same Grace that had laid down on the cross, and was lifted up. The same Grace that preached in Sheol, and was raised to life again, so this gift could come to each one of us from the Father.
The cry to God for grace is a powerful thing. He receives those cries, and as with Noah, He counts it unto us as justice, righteousness and perfection. As the above scripture teaches us, our cries for grace never die, but they live forever in the eyes, ears, and will of the Father. Considering the times in which we live, we would do well to remember the example of the just, righteous, and perfect Noah, who, because of his beseeching for His grace, walked with God.

Our Father answers our imploring cries for His grace.

"I Know Something About God's Grace"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgvfPk_eXPk


"Your Grace Finds Me"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amTCngr487o

Road

One of the great memories of my life is when I took my Dad, Big Ed, who was visiting from New York, on a little day trip into the mountains around Prescott, Arizona, where I was living.
Prescott is a beautiful town at a mile in elevation, that is surrounded by the Prescott National Forest, and a mountain range that was mined for gold many years ago. Arizona, in general, is one of the few places left in the continental U.S., where you can find adventures that cannot be found elsewhere.
As my Dad and I drove up the mountain road into the National Forest that day in his rented car, we began to see the marvelous sites. Crossing the road, following the path of the sun, would march an army of tarantulas. If you were there at the end of the afternoon, you would see them marching back again the way that they had come. You could see the entrances to the old gold mines carved into the side of the mountain, and what was left of the tracks that brought the miners in, and took the gold out of those mines. Some of the mine shafts were dug straight down. You could walk over to them, but you couldn't get too close, because the edges were unstable. Below was Lynx Creek, where people were still able to pan for gold, and they could be seen out there with their families, especially on weekends, sitting in the creek with their panning tins. The aroma of the pines and balsams was incredible, and the sky was a deep blue. You could hear a continual "woosh" sound of a wind that blew through the tops of those endless pine trees.
Eventually, we turned off the forest road onto a very narrow rutted road, like the one in the photo above. It was called the Old Walker Road. It was very narrow, and deeply rutted, and uneven. It clung to the side of the mountain, and sections of it had even fallen away. As we began onto this old road, I wasn't sure if my Dad wanted to continue. When I asked, he said, "Why not-the car's a rental." After quite a distance, the road would eventually widen, and circle around and down to Lynx Lake, and finally out onto a highway.
(The use of the word "lynx" is interesting. In the Native American understanding, the lynx animal is associated with the spiritual ability to know the truth, to see into the soul, to see the thoughts and intents of the heart, although they may be unspoken. It is connected to the Great Spirit because of these characteristics. The Hebrew word connected to the lynx means "white like the moon, light, to make white, become white, to be purified, cleansed, purged.")
Back to the story-So we continued our very slow progress along this old mountain road. It was so narrow, that if you met a car coming from the opposite direction, which was very unlikely, someone would have to back up until the road widened out at certain spots, and the other car could pass. This was not a road that you wanted to drive in reverse, so you prayed that you wouldn't meet another car.
As the road deteriorated, I had to get out of the car and take large stones from the sides of the road to "build up" the sections that were rutted too deeply to drive over, or had fallen completely away. Big Ed, behind the wheel, would inch forward, as I re-built the road in front of the car. I would have to kneel down on hands and knees to look under the car as it drove forward to make sure the bottom wouldn't scrape.
We eventually completed our trip over the Old Walker Road, got down to Lynx Lake and the place where the road widened, but it took us hours. After we finally came out onto the open highway, we stopped at a cowboy joint called The Reata Pass, where Big Ed could get a much needed beer.
When we got back to the house, my Mom asked us if everything was alright, because we had been gone for so long. My Dad told her that everything was fine, and he had had the best time ever.
Spiritually speaking, it would be a much easier, and smoother ride if we could always travel on wide open highways. However, sometimes our Father sends us onto the ancient roads. These roads are narrow, and uneven, broken down, and forgotten (Jer. 18:15). He sends us that way so we can re-build those ancient roads, building and leveling them with stones of His name and truth (Isa. 58:12, 61:4). You won't meet many people on these roads, and you may have to progress in inches, rather than miles. However, each stone that you lay to re-build the ancient road are stones that slay giants (1 Sam. 17:49-50), stones that spring forth with the spiritual water of life for those in the desert (Num. 20:8), stones that cry out in praises when humans are silent (Lk. 19:40), stones of revelation upon which Jesus builds and edifies His Church (Mt. 16:18), stones upon which are written new spiritual names (Rev. 2:17), and stones of the foundation of the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 3:10-11). Along the Way on your spiritual trip, you will see, hear, smell, and experience wonderful things-things you never would have experienced travelling on the easy, open highway.
Though the process and the progress seems painfully slow, the Father, Big Ed (Edward means "Blessed Protector"), is with you driving that car as you re-build the Way ahead of Him (Isa. 40:3-4, 62:10). Eventually, He will bring you out to the wider place, where the still waters lay. He will bring you out onto the paved road, and then onto the smooth highway, where you can find those places of refreshing after that tough journey, and then speed your way home.
That little adventure with my dad happened many years ago, and Big Ed passed away back in 2000, but I remember it very well. The journey we took that day was not easy at all, but it was "the best time ever."

Our Father asks us to take the narrow way, the road less travelled (Mt. 7:13-14).

 

*Photo above-old forest road in the area of Prescott, Arizona.

"The Road Less Travelled"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk03EACfpAc

"If I Do Not Sing...the Rocks Will Cry Out"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3NOwpb70lY
 

About JW Player 6.12.4956...

 

 

   

Humbled

There are many instances in scripture when men ask God to look upon them, or upon their situation. For instance:
"Return, we beseech You, O God of hosts; Look down from heaven and see, and visit this vine."                                                             Psalm 80:14
"Look upon me, and be merciful unto me, as Your custom is toward those who love Your name."                                                           Psalm 119:132
"Look down from heaven and see from Your habitation, holy and glorious, where are Your zeal and Your strength, the yearning of Your heart and Your mercies toward me? Are they restrained?"                                                   Isa. 63:15
"My eyes flow and do not cease without interruption, till the LORD from heaven looks down and sees....I called on Your name, O LORD, from the lowest pit. You have heard my voice: Do not hide Your ear from my sighing, from my cry for help. You drew near on the day I called on You, and said, "Do not fear."          Lam. 3:49-57
"Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my mark. Oh, that the Almighty would answer me, that my prosecutor (accuser) had written a book!        Job 31:35
The psalmist at one point even orders the LORD to come down:
"Bow down Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke."                                                     Psalm 144:5

Even as men throughout the ages have called upon the LORD to look, see, hear, move, and intervene on behalf of His people, the LORD has done so. He has spoken, seen, and yes, even come down, in answer to the cries and dire straits of His people. Everyday, our own voices join with the voices of the generations that have gone before, calling upon, and crying to the LORD, asking Him to look at our condition or circumstance. However, about this, I read a very interesting verse that caused me to stop, think, and marvel:
"The LORD is high above all nations, His glory above the heavens. Who is like the LORD our God, who dwells on high, who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth? He raises the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the ash heap, that He may seat him with princes- with the princes of His people."
                                                                        Psalm 113:4-8

We have an idea of the meaning of the term "humbles Himself", but to spell it out clearly, the Hebrew word shaphel means, "to become low, sink, be abased, to bring low, make low, to humiliate, to cast down from a high rank, to sit down in a low place".
In order for the LORD to see, hear, answer, move, lift, raise, and seat us, He must humble Himself first. He is so highly exalted, that to even see or hear us, He must humble His majesty. Yet, He loves to see and hear us, even though it costs Him to do so.
When I consider this, I am a little better able to understand the amazement of the psalmist who wrote:
"When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit  (give attention to) him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels (Elohim), and You have crowned him with glory and honor."     Psalm 8:3-5

How touching it is to me to know how He humbles His great Being in order to hear me, in order to see me, and the things that concern me. In a way, this humbling that God chooses for Himself is like a very tall man, who must sit, lean down, squat, or kneel in order to listen to, and speak to a small child. Only in this case, this is a Being of such huge spiritual stature, that He must make Himself spiritually smaller, or less, in order to receive our communications. It boggles the mind.
God Almighty humbles Himself to see, hear, and speak to us, and to look into the things of the earth. Through the blood of Jesus, we understand the privilege of being able to approach the Most High directly and boldly, and to enter into His very presence (Heb. 4:16, 10:19), even into the Most Holy Place. Jesus has reconciled us, and made us one with Himself and the Father. The Holy Spirit, which we have received through Christ, has made the way for that connection between our small spirit, and the infinite and immense Spirit who is our God: 
"Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God."  Rom. 8:26-27

Now, I understand a little more about the hugeness of the spiritual disparity that exists between God and man that is bridged by the Holy Spirit in each believer. This disparity is so great that Paul, speaking to and about believers, writes that we don't even know what to pray. What really needs to be prayed between man and God cannot even be expressed within the limits of human language!  This scripture is saying to me that we need the Holy Spirit to pray according to His knowledge of the will of God, therefore our understanding of God's will must be sorely lacking. Thanks be to God who has foreseen this, and provided the spiritual connection to Him that we need in order to make up the gap in our understanding and language. The scripture above says that we need the intercession of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, because They do know and understand the entirety of the will of God as it applies to us individually, and as it applies at the same time, to the whole of creation, and eternity.
We daily bring our petitions directly to God, but we do not consider how He must humble Himself to hear them. It is an awesome thought. It is difficult to wrap my mind around this kind of spiritual stature.
Yet, He calls us, as a body together, to the same measure of the spiritual stature of the fullness of His Son, Christ (Eph. 4:11-13). Our purpose and ultimate destiny is to walk in the same spiritual stature of Christ, but it takes every brother and sister, every member of the faith out of every nation, kindred, tongue and tribe together, even every member from past and future generations, to grow as a unity into this great stature. Yet even this great stature of Christ is not comparable to the spiritual stature of God, for Jesus said, "...My Father is greater than I." (Jn. 14:28). 
It is beyond my imagination, but even this small glimpse into His immensity and power makes me wonder in my heart, "Is there anything too great for our God?", and the answer must be "No, nothing exists that could be as great as He is."
Thank You, Father, for humbling Yourself in order to hear and see the things concerning me.

Our Father humbles Himself to behold the things that are in the heavens, and in the earth.

"Hear My Cry, O God"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CRTY1xb0NE

"God, I Look to You"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR5IoWH9OiI