I’m still basking in the afterglow of last Sunday’s worship. Or, more correct, my heart/mind/spirit continuum just continues to expand as I accommodate more accurately who and what Jesus means to me.
There are other singers, other worship leaders, other choirs, musicians and techies just as able and talented. 
It wasn’t – isn’t – the people. It’s God revealing Himself more in response to my internal workin’s wanting to know more about Him. Yesterday, someone wrote in response to my post a strongly-thought-out statement . . .
“I can’t seem to get over His grace.”
I can’t, either. Nor do I wish it. I’m a beneficiary of God’s great, inexplicable grace. Daily He just keeps pouring that undeserved favor and support into me. On a daily, sometimes hourly basis, God’s magnificent, always-on grace offers . . .
- encouragement when my natural reticence wants to hesitate.
- strength and physical energy when mine’s already spent.
- reassurance that as He says, “I’ll never leave you,” He means it.
- unconditional, no-strings love for me.
- spiritual empowerment when my faith wavers and gets wobbly.
- understanding what I need when I can’t isolate it or tell Him what it is.
“Okay, wait. Your writing, your style and your insights don’t track with those six things that you just listed.”
You don’t know me. Sometimes inside my armor there’s a scared, rejected, reserved, lonesome, sometimes-sick, often unhealthy, chronically fatigued, needy little boy. I know I seem and look generally healthy. It fools even some close to me into thinking I’m okay and able to keep up with physical activity and chores. And because my nature is to want to please others, I keep trying to juggle that, keeping all the plates spinning. God knows that. Knows me! And being the infinitely-patient One that He is, God always pours his marvelous grace into wherever I most need it with the precision dosage of the finest pharmacist.
Never shorts me. If anything, God lavishes more grace on my life than I have any right to expect.
“Okay, another question before I forget it.”
Sure.
“Wanna explain the title?”
The ti— Oh! Yeah-yeah.
Proverbs 23:17 says, “Soak yourself in the Fear-of-God.”
It’s no secret. Whatever you immerse yourself in on a daily basis is what characterizes you. You give off vibes, energy of precisely that upon which you consistently feed your mind and spirit. And don’t get hung up on The Message’s reference to Fearing God.
It means respect – something several generations of spoiled, self-absorbed young have been allowed to bypass. One who has no concept of respect – fear, awe, stunned amazement – of God won’t have much for anyone else, either. Parents, spouses, bosses, supervisors, coworkers, friends. Before you vigorously nod, understand: for them to ‘get’ respect, it must be modeled before them. They do and say what they repeatedly observe their parents do and say.
You soak your heart/mind/spirit on something every day. So do I. It’s what drives how we think, who we are. Solomon knew that and just flatly says it:
“Go soak your heart in God stuff.”
Pickles can be taken out of the juice, dried on a towel and left setting out. Eating them later, however, leaves no doubt that, yup, that there’s a pickle. Why? It’s been soaking in brine. It may look and feel unpickly, but all it takes is one good, crunchy mouthful.
Zat help?
“Um–yeah. Gave me something to think about . . .”
Excellent! Tell you what. At the day’s end, tonight when dinner’s over and you’re relaxing, figure out just ONE THING you did today to make all your tomorrows better. Write it down. Then you can tell me what it is the next time we talk.
I’m guessing it’ll be something of spiritual significance. Anything you do to strengthen your spiritual resolve and build your faith is absolutely worth the effort.
So, yeah. Me, too: “I can’t seem to get over His grace.”
Truth? I don’t ever want to.
© D. Dean Boone, October 2014