Sufficient Grace

When we feel the weight of our sin and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us to the foot of the cross, we should ask for God’s forgiveness, knowing that “the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy” (Ps. 103:8, NKJV). This same verse was spoken by God Himself (Exod. 34:6) after His chosen nation had grieved Him.

The fact that the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy is also the very reason Jesus died on the cross—so that our relationship with God could be made right again.

It’s when we are willing to acknowledge and confess our sin; when we say, O, Lord, here I am again . . . “ ‘Be merciful to me a sinner!’ ” (Luke 18:13, NKJV), that Jesus—who has already been working in us and for us with the Holy Spirit before we even call out to Him—sees the weight and takes it from us. Our burdens are lifted at Calvary, and Jesus is surely very near when we come to Him and, even before, seeks us as the Good Shepherd and stands at the door and knocks (Rev. 3:20). Let’s not stay away from the Cross, looking at God from a distance. Let’s run to Jesus and exchange our sins and burdens for His righteousness (Zech. 3:4).

Slowly read the following verses. Write in your own words what they tell you about God’s grace toward you:

• “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23, NKJV).
• “But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:20, 21, NKJV).
• “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8, NKJV).

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Additional Reading: Selected Quotes from Ellen G. White

Like the Savior of mankind, of whom he was a type, Elisha in his ministry among men combined the work of healing with that of teaching. Faithfully, untiringly, throughout his long and effective labors, Elisha endeavored to foster and advance the important educational work carried on by the schools of the prophets. . . . It was on the occasion of one of his visits to the school established at Gilgal that he healed the poisoned pottage. . . .
At Gilgal, also, while the dearth was still in the land, Elisha fed one hundred men with the present brought to him by “a man from Baalshalisha,” “bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof.”. . .
What condescension it was on the part of Christ, through His messenger, to work this miracle to satisfy hunger! Again and again since that time, though not always in so marked and perceptible a manner, has the Lord Jesus worked to supply human need. . . .
It is the grace of God on the small portion that makes it allsufficient. God’s hand can multiply it a hundredfold. From His resources He can spread a table in the wilderness. By the touch of His hand He can increase the scanty provision and make it sufficient for all. It was His power that increased the loaves and corn in the hands of the sons of the prophets. . . .
When the Lord gives a work to be done, let not men stop to inquire into the reasonableness of the command or the probable result of their efforts to obey. The supply in their hands may seem to fall short of the need to be filled; but in the hands of the Lord it will prove more than sufficient. The servitor “set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the Lord.”. . .
The gift brought to Him with thanksgiving and with prayer for His blessing, He will multiply as He multiplied the food given to the sons of the prophets and to the weary multitude.—Prophets and Kings, pp. 244, 245.