God waited to save you. He waited, like a parent who waits to give a birthday gift. He waited to cover you in grace, mercy, and love. He waited because he cared. He even waited through your sin and shame. He waited through your rebellion and anger. He didn’t punish you immediately. He didn’t strike you dead. He waited.
Are you a gracious person? When you show grace to others, do you do it with joy or do you perhaps show grace begrudgingly? Truthfully, when we show grace, we often have a predetermined limit to our grace. And, even if the limit isn’t predetermined, you will know it when you reach the limit But, regardless of how gracious you are or are not, very few of us would say that we wait to show grace–that showing grace to others is something we look forward to doing. And yet, that is precisely how Isaiah describes the Lord:
Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you. Isaiah 30:18
God isn’t gracious to us out of requirement. He doesn’t show us grace to satisfy someone else or out of a sense of responsibility. God waits to be gracious. He wants to be gracious. He finds pleasure in extending grace toward us.
I don’t often appreciate this aspect of God’s character the way I should. It rarely occurs to me that I am undeserving of God’s love, but he desires to be gracious to me anyway–to overlook my sins and my shortcomings–and to welcome me in.
God lavishes his grace upon us. In Romans 5:20, Paul writes, where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. Should we continue in sin? By no means, but know this, wherever there is great sin, God’s grace is greater.
