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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

More Grace

We sang "It Was Your Grace" on Sunday morning. In case you are not familiar with the song, the lyrics are as follows:

It was Your grace that drew me to the cross
It was Your grace that gave me faith
It was Your grace that reconciled me to Yourself
Though I had sinned in every way
You disarmed me of everything that I would lean on
So I would lean on You
And You stripped me of everything I would depend on
So I’d depend on You

In You alone my strength is found
In You alone my hope abounds
In You alone my strength is found
My life is bound up in You

And in my weakness give me still more grace
Grace to cast myself on You
In every trial let me find Your peace and joy
And grace to humbly walk with You
O disarm me of everything that I would lean on
So I will lean on You
Jesus, strip me of everything I would depend on
So I’ll depend on You

Give me more grace
Give me more grace
And new mercies every morning
Give me new mercies


By Mark Altrogge

These lyrics accompany the song "It Was Your Grace" from the Valley of Vision
album.

At some point I was struck by how much my heart really did not want what was coming out of my mouth..."disarm me of everything that I would lean on, so I will lean on You...Jesus, strip me of everything I would depend on, So I'll depend on You" -- no...in that moment, the implication of what that disarming and stripping of me could mean was weighing heavily on my heart. For a moment, I forgot all about God's goodness and kindness towards me and truth be told, I was fearful. You see, I do not want those other things on which I lean to be taken away...things like my husband, my children, my health, my home, etc. I know God is good, but I don't want to have to rely on just Him; I like it when He provides through other things (like my husband). I had to quickly whisper, "Lord, I believe that you are good and that I can depend on you alone...please, please, please, help my unbelief!" I continued to sing and my heart was truly in it; "Give me more grace, give me more grace..." Oh Lord, You've given me so much grace already, but PLEASE, give me more because I just can't believe enough; I can't hope enough on my own; I can't hold on to the hope like I need to...please, please, please give me more grace. And then the comfort and peace overwhelm my soul as He tells me, "Yes, My child, I love you, and I will give you more of my grace. I have begun a good work in you, and I will be faithful to complete it." Thank You, Lord! My worship comes full circle...by His grace. My heart is not perfectly where it should be, but one day, it will be...by His grace alone.

2 comments:

Kristy said...

Thank you for sharing this. Sometimes I struggle with focusing enough on the words of the worship we sing. It takes work to actually listen, grasp, and apply what we sing to the Lord. Thank you for sharing how the Lord is working in your life!

Steph B. said...

What a great post. Thank you!!