At first
glance these words seem to be contradictory. As I was watching a documentary
about Robert Kennedy today, I heard the phrase.
And I thought
it was the most paradoxical contradiction in terms I had ever heard. ‘Til I
thought about it. And then it occurred to me. It registered.
“The awful grace of God.”
Though this is
not primarily a reflection on the Kennedy family, I think they have something
to teach us. Their lives spoke louder than any words. And they were flawed,
imperfect people, as we all so well know, this far down the line.
But I think
they were People of Impact, and that
their heart yearned to make a
difference.
For as Ted
reflected at Robert’s funeral.
“Some people
see things that are and say ‘Why?’ I see things that never were, and say, Why
Not?”
But for all our plans, and for all our
dreams, there remains that awful grace of
God. That grace that provokes us, that dogs us, that forbids us to
understand; (or so it seems). For it is good for us to realize that everything to which we are exposed must,
of necessity, be first approved of God.
Job learned that lesson well.
That awful
grace of God.
I love that
verse that reminds us, “But God is faithful. And He will not allow you to be
tempted above that you are able. But will, with the temptation, also provide
you a way of escape.” (1st Cor. 10:13, KJV)
My wife and I
have borne the most consistently awful
things over the past three years. Our endurance has been threatened at every
turn. For one of our daughters has experienced the most grievous marital
problems, a second daughter developed a painful, and almost untreatable bladder
condition, a third daughter suffers from the chronic effects of Schizophrenia
and retardation, our grandson had open-heart surgery, two grandchildren were
born with congenital eye problems, I have experienced severe ringing in my
ears, a broken arm, broken ankle and melanoma, my wife has endured four surgeries, (including two related to breast
cancer), and both her parents died
this past year. (“Not to mention” three direct hits from hurricanes; during a
memorable period of a few weeks).
The awful grace
of God.
But among those
who will be disciplined by that awful
grace, those who will dig deep into the wellsprings of all that which Never Changes, hope remains and joy
endures.
And while such
circumstances can never be counted easy, and though all those awful question
marks remain, he that is disciplined by that grace is happy. Yes, as strange as
it may seem… happy.
None of us can
know the end from the beginning, and all of us will be exposed to “that awful
grace of God.” But it is grace,
nonetheless.
One of the
best commentaries I ever heard about that awful grace was discovered on the
Antarctic continent, in a tent, in a letter… in the pocket of a dead man.
"We are playing a good part in a scheme arranged by God, Himself, and
... all is well!"
By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "Musings"
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