Randy Clark said something very beautiful:
“To beg God for healing is to assume we have more mercy than He does.”
Honestly, it doesn’t just apply to healing, but in so many areas of our lives, it can be difficult to remember that God is more merciful and more gracious than we could ever imagine.
I want to share two scriptures before sharing a story, and these are Ephesians 3:20-21, and Matthew 7:7-11.
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
Ephesians 3:20-21
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!”
Matthew 7:7-11
I want to emphasize two things:
- God is able to do more than we could possibly imagine.
- God wants to do more than we could possibly imagine.
It feels, sometimes, as though we have this idea of God — this idea that He’s a strict Dad who wants only to give us the hard lessons. Sometimes, because God is so big, it can become easy to think of His discipline and treatment of us as magnified versions of how an earthly father might discipline or treat their child.
The truth is, however, that God is the perfect Father. The truth is that no earthly dad, no matter how great they are, will ever be a spotless representation of God’s heart; every earthly father will in some way fall short of the magnitude of grace that our Heavenly Father extends to us, His children.
There is discipline, yes. But, as Danny Silk so beautifully puts it in his book Unpunishable, our view of God’s discipline can easily be skewed by the punishment paradigm we’ve grown to be accustomed to.
1 John 4:18 tells us that there is no fear in love — because fear has to do with punishment — therefore, perfect love casts out fear.
Will a father punish his little boy for falling and scraping his knee while learning to run? No, but will that father encourage his child to be disciplined and keep on trying till he can run without falling? Yes, he absolutely will. Will it be pleasant in the moment, for that little boy to keep trying to run? Probably not, but will it be worth it, and will he grow and get stronger? Yes, that little boy will benefit from the discipline given by his dad.
What is the point of that discipline? It is a grace — to be given the strength that is needed to push on, to grow, and ultimately, (no-longer in the metaphorical sense), to be sanctified.
“It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?”
Hebrews 12:7
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Hebrews 4:16
My point is that God’s discipline, rather than being a discouraging punishment out of anger, is an empowering grace to be strengthened and sanctified.
I’ve seen God’s grace at levels it’s hard to imagine, especially when considering the life that I lived before I met Jesus. I would like, however, to share a simple story of God’s abundant grace and discipline — a story about undeserved blessing, and about faith in Who God is as our gracious and faithful Father.
Firstly, some background and context:
When I was in need of a car, a missionary prayed over me to receive a car in a way that glorifies Jesus. Within a few weeks, I was given a car for free by some friends who had felt in their spirits that the Lord was asking them to bless me in that way.
There really were no words that measured up to the gratitude I felt in my heart, to my friends, and to the Lord for faithfully providing for me during a time of need.
However, my own negligence resulted in the car being totaled only a year later.
Two mistakes led to the accident:
- During the entire time I had the car, I had not bought a phone holder but would instead sometimes hold my phone in my hand — something I knew was illegal in my state and was dangerous.
- I had felt as though the Lord had instructed me to travel to Moravian Falls NC over the weekend to seek him there, and instead I decided to postpone it to a later time.
What resulted was this:
I had my phone in my hand for navigation and was unable to see briefly the cars in front of me stopping for the red light.
And I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I should have been in North Carolina rather than in Kennesaw Georgia.
Sadly, my car, a blessing from the Lord, was totaled. (It actually happened right in front of my pastor — fun fact)
I knew that it was my fault. Completely. There was no blame anywhere else. So, I repented and asked for forgiveness from the Lord for the mistakes that I had made. And I had to deal with the consequences: I no longer had a car to get me to the places I needed to get to.
However, I also knew that the Lord was gracious, and I knew that I needed a car, something I was confident that the Lord would provide.
“And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:19
I knew that, because a car was something that I truly needed, the Lord would provide it. So, whenever I asked people to pray for me, I told them not to ask God to please get me a car, but rather to thank Him in advance for the car that would come. I told my family as well, “I need a car — God will supply all my needs — God is going to provide a car.”
I just knew that He would. And for a while, I had no physical evidence outside of the Word that declared that my needs would be met.
Then I was spoken over prophetically that I would be empowered to go and get my next car rather than wait for it to come to me like the last car. Another word that was given was that it would be a car that would last me to my thirties.
So, when someone offered to give me a car for free that was near the end of its life, and another person offered to sell me their car for cheap that wasn’t in peak condition, I knew that these were not the cars for me.
So, I kept waiting and searching, and eventually I found a car that was very reliable. In fact, it was given a 4.5/5 in reliability by JD Power, and an 8.5/10 overall as a car by US News.
As I went into my credit union to ask for a loan, I prayed and asked for the Lord’s favor. Initially, things didn’t look good. I found out I would need a cosigner, and my parents were very wary due to the potential risk. We also did not anticipate the best loan term, but we knew that I needed a car, so after discussing it, my parents agreed to cosign.
Still praying for favor, we went back to the credit union, where the Lord came through graciously. We were given a plan that significantly reduced the risk on my parents’ end and included a much longer loan term. Already, I was so very grateful to the Lord for coming through and blessing me in this way.
The next step was to drive out to inspect and hopefully purchase the car I was looking at. After driving it around, using a scanner to search for codes, and continuously praying for favor, I decided I wanted to buy the car.
However, I was met with the unfortunate surprise that the car would cost more than I had anticipated — more than I had gotten a loan for and more than I had available.
Then I saw more favor: The dealer offered me a solution. He suggested an unconventional answer that included my whole loan as a down payment, but only officially on paper, and the next few payments would be made personally to the dealership. The offer was made so that I could buy the car that day, despite not having enough to pay for it in that moment, and not wanting to have two separate loans to finance.
It wasn’t my preferred answer, since it cost more money, but I was grateful that I would be able to purchase the car.
So, I called my credit union to increase my spending limit. At this point, I will admit that my faith and expectation started wavering. The credit union answered and said that they would not increase the spending limit for me. I finally got to speak to a higher-up, and while waiting, I kept saying over and over: “Lord, You brought me this far. You won’t drop me here.”
I mentioned that my faith for a car did start to waver at the end there, yet the Lord was so very gracious to me. I finally spoke to a manager who told me that entire car payments were too risky for Visa, which was why they would not allow me to purchase the car.
I then replied, asking: “What if, technically, just on paper, it isn’t a full car payment but rather a downpayment?” (Because of the solution the dealer had come up with)
The credit union then increased my spending limit and I drove my new car home.
Here’s the crazy part:
I thought everything was falling apart, but in truth, everything was falling perfectly into place like puzzle pieces.
If the car had been as cheap as I had anticipated, I actually would not have been able to buy my car. God worked everything out so perfectly in a way I could never have even asked, thought of, or imagined, and graced me with an awesome car that I can in no way take any credit for.
It’s a crazy grace. It’s a grace I really can’t fathom. Here I was, a kid who crashed the car that had been given to him for free, and now the Lord was blessing me with a nice new car.
I can’t fully understand it, but I do understand that my Father loves me, and He does delight in showing mercy, and extending grace to those who don’t deserve it. I certainly didn’t.
I had to deal with the consequences of my mistakes throughout that whole time — not having a car. All the while I had the opportunity to be disciplined in faith for the Lord’s faithfulness, and to learn more about God’s abundant grace.
This is only one small speck in an ocean of examples of God’s gracious heart, but it certainly taught me a lot. And it certainly allowed me to hope for more than I can ask, think, or imagine.
Our Father is a God of grace upon grace, and I want to spend the rest of my life diving deep into His love and experiencing the depths of His mercy.
“And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”
Isaiah 58:11
in Christ
Mount Beriyth 
Leave a comment