Lots of it, in fact.
A Christian Guidebook: What Is Grace? (6)
He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,
And vegetation for the service of man,
That he may bring forth food from the earth,
And wine that makes glad the heart of man,
Oil to make his face shine,
And bread which strengthens man’s heart. Psalm 104.14, 15
He declares His word to Jacob,
His statutes and His judgments to Israel.
He has not dealt thus with any nation;
And as for His judgments, they have not known them. Psalm 147.19, 20
Love letters
God’s grace, we have seen, is a disposition which arises solely from within God Himself—unprompted and undeserved—whereby He looks upon His creatures with favor, determining to treat them kindly, do good to them, and care for them continuously. God is love, and the love He knows within Himself, among the Persons of the Trinity, overflows in love for all that He has made. His love is unbounded; nothing can stop it.
But grace would be of little value to us, as the objects of God’s favoring disposition, if God did not somehow let us know of this wondrous and unfathomable attitude. Thus, the grace which begins as a disposition within God, issues in communication from God, designed to inform us of His lovingkindness and move us to worship and serve Him.
Grace thus includes the various means whereby God communicates His favor to us. Just as a love letter is precious because it communicates the attitude of the sender, so the means whereby God communicates His grace are themselves aspects of grace to inform us of His love. If we would know and enjoy the grace of God as fully as possible, we must open and read and treasure all the love letters He sends us every day, communications which are more numerous and varied and magnificent and beautiful than we could ever entirely comprehend or adequately respond to.
The means of God’s communicating His grace to us are three: creation, the Word of God, and Jesus Christ our Lord.
By creation
All aspects of divine creation communicate the grace of God. Contrary to the teaching of modern science, the creation is not a self-perpetuating machine. It has no inherent power, either to continue or to operate on its own, but depends on the upholding power of the Word of God for all its operations (Heb. 1.3).
The creation abounds with things beautiful, nutritious, useful, and beneficial to the creatures of the earth. These daily blessings are more than we could ever tally, and every one of them is a love letter of grace from God. The psalmist mentions God’s ruling the plants to allow men to provide food for themselves. We would have no benefit whatsoever from plants or other creatures, if God did not make and arrange and sustain them so that we could make good use of them. Jonathan Edwards explained it this way: “It is by the immediate influence of God upon things according to those constant methods which we call the laws of nature, that they are ever obedient to man’s will, or that he can use them at all” (An Humble Attempt).
Thus, all of creation—the air we breathe, light from the sun, the many and varied flora and fauna, topographies and ecosystems, and even the weather—all these are love letters of divine grace whereby the Lord invites us to seek, know, and worship Him, and thus find our fullest happiness and purpose in life.
By His Word
For those who know the Lord, who have responded to His grace and seek Him earnestly, God further reveals His love in the Scriptures. There He unfolds the story of creation, the fall, redemption, and restoration in cycles, stages, and narratives that declare His lovingkindness in every generation and unto the end of the world.
What person who was really in love would allow unopened letters from the beloved to accumulate in the mailbox, aware of their being there, but too distracted or uninterested to read, study, and pore over them? Would we not question the protestations of love made by such a person, who demonstrates such little interest in what the beloved desires to communicate?
And yet how many of those who claim to be descendants by faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who fancy themselves believers in Jesus Christ and lovers of God—how many of us leave our Bibles unread, unstudied, and only consulted under the tutelage of one who, very likely, is guilty of similar neglect?
God’s Word is a bottomless fountain of His grace, communicated in a wide variety of genre and styles, to convey His love for us. They who know that love will read those letters over and over, always discovering in them something new and exciting and comforting about the grace of God.
By our Lord Jesus Christ
The creation—which exists by, and entirely consists and holds together in Jesus Christ—and the Scriptures—which are in their entirety about Jesus Christ (Jn. 5.39)—point us to the quintessential means whereby God communicates His grace to the world: Jesus Christ. Jesus embodies the grace of God. Consider Jesus, and you will see grace at work, grace exceedingly abundant for even our deepest needs, grace that gives and sustains and transforms, even as we behold and receive it.
God has not left us to figure out for ourselves what His grace is or is for. He communicates His grace to us at every moment, by an infinite variety of means and prompts, revealing His grace in creation, and explaining Himself and declaring Himself and His love in His Word and by His Son.
Grace is divine communication which conveys not only the divine disposition, but divine power.
Search the Scriptures
1. What does Psalm 19.1-4 teach about creation as divine communication?
2. Why has God given us His Word? How do 2 Timothy 3.15-17, John 17.17, and John 5.39 guide our answer?
3. Read John 1.14 and 2 Corinthians 5.20, 21. How does Jesus communicate grace to us?
Next steps—Conversation: Share with a Christian friend—in person or by text or email—your response to God’s grace as the ways He communicates His love for us.
T. M. Moore
Additional Resources
If you have found this study helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
This part of our study of A Christian Guidebook is adapted from our book, Grace for Your Time of Need. You can order this book by clicking here or download a free PDF by clicking here. And while you’re at it, download the Leader’s Guide for teaching Grace for Your Time of Need by clicking here.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
