Thursday, June 4, 2015

God’s Refreshing Grace

Amongst a variety of things I do at our church, I lead a bible study for a group of women every Tuesday morning. We are currently (slowly) working our way through the book of Acts, which has been an incredibly life-giving endeavor.

As we have worked through Acts, one recurring theme is that an extraordinary miracle will happen (like the coming of the Holy Spirit and the healing of a crippled beggar), the witnesses will be filled with awe and wonder, and Peter will preach a sermon to explain the significance of the event. In Peter’s sermon in Acts 3, he presents the gospel in a compelling and convicting way and then calls for the people to repent.

But the interesting aspect for me, that I’ve been mulling over for weeks, is Peter’s declaration that the grace of God brings ‘times of refreshing’ from the Lord. The word, in its original language, was used to speak of a good drink of water; of Sabbath for slaves and animals; of the soothing of Saul’s spirit by David’s music; of respite from the plagues for Pharaoh; of the end of slavery in the Psalms. I don’t know about you, but that sort of grace sounds amazing, incredible, and refreshing. In a world of constant and extreme expectations and pressure, a grace that refreshes sounds like an oasis in the desert.


Wherever you are today – however easy or hard life might feel – I pray that you would experience the refreshing grace of God. I pray that Jesus would meet you anew with the words of an easy yoke and a light burden. May you truly sense the peaceful refreshment of the Lord.