Ordinary Time

Pause

“A saint is not someone who is good but who experiences the goodness of God.” (Thomas Merton, Trappist monk)

When we catch glimpses of God’s goodness in our lives, we call that grace.

Open your heart, mind, and soul to the ways that you need God’s grace to sustain you on your journey.

Listen

Israel, wait for the Lord! Because faithful love is with the Lord; because great redemption is with our God! He is the one who will redeem Israel from all its sin.

Psalm 130:7-8

Think

The writer of this psalm forces us to look ourselves in the mirror. We know that we need hope and redemption, but so often we feel we need rescue from our circumstances. However, here the psalmist says that God will rescue Israel “from its sin” (v. 8). Here in Psalm 130, the people need rescuing from their own brokenness.

It is not a popular message in our world today to acknowledge that we are broken. However, accepting the grace of God must begin with us admitting that all of the answers we seek are not found only within ourselves. Instead, we need hope and redemption that can only come from God.

But that grace that God bestows on us also demonstrates the depths of God’s love for us even in the midst of our brokenness. Today, may you feel the compassion of God wash over you and remind you that with the Lord there is steadfast love.

Tyler Tankersley

Pray

God, thank you for loving me. Thank you for showing me grace and hope even in the midst of my brokenness. Amen.

Go

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!

from “Grace Greater Than Our Sin” by Julia H. Johnston (1910)