Dancing in the Lord's Grace

I wrote this blog post 6 years ago, and today, on a rainy Friday in Burlington, North Carolina, it resonated with me. So I decided to share it as a debut of this new feature on my website - my journal. A collection of what I am learning, what is informing my artwork, or just how I am feeling. I hope it blesses you.

"Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." -Hebrews 10:22-23

The sun has been missing for some time now, despite it's startling appearance for the duration of yesterday; the upstate of South Carolina (and the majority of the south) has been experiencing an incredible amount of rain.

It started as misty, muggy rain, and has now evolved into a torrential downpour that shows no sign of stopping. Naturally, this makes me and most of the general population a little irritable and upset. I've become tired of being cooped up in buildings, and so, today, my boredom brought me to sit and watch the rain from my window. And as I was watching the rain drizzle, as I listened to the crackle of it hitting the asphalt, I thought about the symbolism of rain, about the way God uses rain, about Noah and the forty days he spent in an ark while outside it was flooding. (And to think, I'm getting irritable just after a week).

The Lord was grieved at the fact that he had made man. The amount of wickedness, evil, and sin on earth was to the point that the Lord couldn't stand. He didn't have to make us. But he did. He shared in his creations, and for the second time, man had let him down.

Our Savior, who had created everything, who had shared his perfect world with a man and woman, who had given them everything except for one thing. And then, they let him down because that one thing he told them they couldn't have, they wanted to the point that they forgot all that God had done for them, that they had doubted his faithfulness.

And sin entered the world, and they hid, and their eyes were opened, and yet God still provided. He covered them in suitable clothes, and he sent them from the garden. But he didn't kill them then and there. Our God is gracious.

And then, years later, he is grieving that the second chance he gave his children wasn't enough. That they have turned their backs so far, that they have chosen sin, yet again, over Him. And yet, our Father is gracious to a fault. He sees Noah. He chooses Noah. And Noah obeys, the rain ensues, Noah is cooped up in an ark for forty days and nights while men and women struggle and fight and take their last breathes on the earth.

I look outside and I think about how faithful our God is. Because I know that when the flood was over, he promised to never destroy the earth by flood again. He created the rainbow to remind us of this covenant he made with us.

We should know that it is not by our capabilities that we aren't going to be destroyed from the face of this earth. We should know that the Lord, still, is grieving when he looks at us. He is grieving because he knows that we are constantly choosing sin over Him. He won't break his promise, it's not in his nature to go back on it. But that doesn't mean we should look out our windows and take for granted the fact that, today, I still have life. He has granted me another day. His compassions are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. He sent his son, and I don't have to drown. He sent his son, and yes I still fail him but somehow his love covers all sin.

Water is mentioned in the Bible 722 times. One time is the flood. The others range from creation, baptisms, washing of sins, and miracles. It's pretty cool that I've had a week where, everyday, I can walk out and see something that should remind me of his faithfulness. Rain. A downpour. His grace.

I think about when the Lord literally made it rain bread to provide for his children in Exodus 16. About when the prayers for rain were granted, and the Lord sent rain, and the crops bore fruit. I think of him sprinkling water over the heads of those who had chosen to be baptized, and to follow him. I think of him standing up and calming the storm and asking, "Why were you so afraid?" As if to ask us, do you not know I'm faithful?

I know it's a stretch, but I'm going to walk out these next couple of days and try to get myself in the habit of feeling the raindrops as His grace. I'm going to smile and know that his grace washes over my sins, that he has made me new. I'm going to thank him for forgiving me, and I'm going to try to forgive myself for constantly letting him down. I'm going to thank him for always being faithful, and not expecting me to be perfect. And I'm going to open my palms and accept the grace he has provided me, I am going to sip of his living water and dance in his everlasting mercy.

Hallelujah, we have a God who is so faithful.