God's superabounding Niagara Falls grace...

artwork by Lisa Plefka Haskin

As I pondered this beautiful work of art by Lisa Plefka Haskin, I could hear Chris Tomlin’s All My Fountains playing in my heart…Open the heavens, Come Living Water, All my fountains are in You, You're strong like a river, Your love is running through, All my fountains are in You.

Suddenly, the memory of a devotional from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers echoes in my mind…Is your source based on your own understanding or is it grounded on the redemption of Jesus Christ? Continually look back to the foundation of your love and affection and remember where your Source of power lies…remember that He is your supply…All my fountains are in You. (Psalm 87:7)

Thinking about my Source, my Fountain, Jesus Christ, led me back to Ephesians Chapter One for a word study on His superabounding Niagara Falls grace from Ephesians 1:7-8..

Amplified: In Him we have redemption (deliverance and salvation) through His blood, the remission (forgiveness) of our offenses (shortcomings and trespasses), in accordance with the riches and the generosity of His gracious favor, which He lavished upon us in every kind of wisdom and understanding (practical insight and prudence)

NET Bible: In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight.

Phillips: It is through the Son, at the cost of his own blood, that we are redeemed, freely forgiven through that full and generous grace which has overflowed into our lives and opened our eyes to the truth.

Wuest: in Whom we are having our redemption through His blood, the putting away of our trespasses according to the wealth of His grace which He caused to superabound to us in the sphere of every wisdom and understanding.

Young’s Literal: in whom we have the redemption through his blood, the remission of the trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, in which He did abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence

A word study of grace (charis) reveals the definition is to rejoice. Grace is God's unmerited favor and supernatural enablement and empowerment for salvation and for daily sanctification. Grace is everything for nothing to those who don't deserve anything. Grace is what everyone needs, what none can earn, and what God alone can and does freely give. John Eadie, in his commentary on Ephesians, writes that grace (charis) is that goodwill on God's part which not only provides and applies salvation, but blesses, cheers, and assists believers…that many-sided favor that comes in the form of hope to saints in despondency, of joy to them in sorrow, of patience to them in suffering, of victory to them under assault, and of final triumph to them in the hour of death.

It has been said that the gravity of grace works like the earth’s water system, which always flows from the highest to the lowest point. Just as the waters of Niagara roll over the fall and plunge down to make a river below, and just as that river flows ever downward to still more low-lying areas where it brings life and growth, so too it is with God’s river of grace. Grace’s gravity carries it to the lowly in heart, where it brings life and blessing. Grace goes to the humble. The unbowed soul standing proudly before God receives no benefit from God’s falling grace. It may descend upon him, but it does not penetrate, and drips away like rain from a statue. But the soul lying humbly before God is immersed—and even swims—in a sea of grace.

A wonderful illustration of God’s grace in Jesus Christ is experienced by those who have visited Niagara Falls, awed by the sight and sound and overpowering sense of it all. Every minute, about 200,000 tons of water plunge into the Niagara River gorge in a thunderous ovation to the lavish, generous nature of God. The Lord could have used a lot less water, but He didn't. He could have made the falls lower, but He built them 12 stories high. And because they are what they are from the creative hand of God, people come from all over the world to see Niagara Falls. What a picture of God's grace in Jesus Christ...in Whom we are having our redemption through His blood, the putting away of our trespasses according to the wealth of His grace which He caused to superabound to us in the sphere of every wisdom and understanding. The Greek word translated superabound means an exceeding measure, something above the ordinary. God's grace toward us is not squeezed out from an eye-dropper or carefully rationed like water during a drought. His grace is a Niagara of superabundance so lavish that we marvel at its display. Praise His Holy Name!

Take five minutes to marvel at God's superabounding Niagara Falls grace...

 

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