Grace Heaped Upon Grace

I was recently leading a Bible study with a friend who had fled to Brazil from Venezuela when the economy there crumbled. We were reading the second chapter of Ruth and I was pointing out the many instances of self-giving love in the chapter and how they reflected the lavish grace of God. Suddenly I thought to myself, “Wait a minute! She left everything to come to this country and works hard and earns very little. I wonder how she feels when I talk about God’s abundance when she is living at almost poverty level.”

(Photo by insung yoon on Unsplash)

The Lord soon corrected my very human thinking because my friend looked at me with tears in her eyes and shared the following story: “Years ago in my country I had a house with every luxury in it. I had a position of leadership in the church and was fulfilled and prosperous in every way. When circumstances finally forced my family to leave, we arrived in Brazil with nothing. I was reduced to selling lollipops in front of a public school to try to earn cash for our family. THEN I LEARNED ABOUT GRACE. Before I had been self-sufficient. Now I was completely dependent on the Lord and He took care of us over and over and over again.”

In her case it wasn’t material wealth that revealed His grace; it was a certainty of His presence and goodness in the midst of every trial. Her testimony was a good reminder to me not to value God’s good gifts over the Giver. The Amplified Bible puts it this way: For out of the superabundance of His grace and truth we have all received spiritual blessings upon spiritual blessing. (John 1:16)