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Transforming Grace
Discussion Guide, Chapter 7b: The Sufficiency of Grace (Examples of Relying on God's
Grace)
Central Idea: God’s grace enables us to persevere and grow despite any and all
obstacles. God gives each of us the grace we need to fulfill the ministry and service He
has given to us to bring glory to His Name.
Review
- Necessity. We’ve already established that God’s grace is necessary for our
lives.
- Sufficiency
. God’s grace is sufficient for our lives. It’s all we need.
There is nothing we need that cannot be found in God’s grace.
- Ability and Desire
. God’s grace is the ability and desire to live a life holy
and pleasing to Him. He doesn’t just "smile down on us." He helps us
with His grace. God doesn’t just pardon us and let us struggle on our own for the
rest of our Christian lives. He positively gives us the power, strength, ability, and
desire to do His will and please Him.
- Dependence
. God arranges things (trials, hardships) in our lives to get us to depend
on His sufficiency, rather than our own sufficiency.
Examples of God’s Sufficiency
We’ve seen how God uses hardships and trials to get us to depend on His grace
instead of ourselves. Let’s look at a few passages that demonstrate this truth in
action.
Some of the most famous Bible passages that exalt God’s faithfulness, love and
provision in the Bible are preceded by accounts of anguish, anxiety, and despair.
- Read Lam 3:16-26. He has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.
17 I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. 18 So I say,
"My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD." 19 I remember my
affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 20 I well remember them, and my
soul is downcast within me. 21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22
Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, "The LORD
is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." 25 The LORD is good to those whose
hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation
of the LORD.
- What are some descriptive words or phrases that Jeremiah uses to describe his anguish
?
- Broken teeth, trampled, deprived of peace, forgotten prosperity, no splendor, no hope,
affliction, wandering, bitterness, gall, soul is downcast
- What are some descriptive words that describe a time when your soul was downcast
?
- What did Jeremiah do to receive God’s sufficient grace
?
- He called to mind:
- The Lord’s great love for him protects him
- His compassions never fail
- His compassions are new every morning
- He is faithful to him
- He said to himself:
- The Lord is my sufficiency
- I will be patient and wait for Him
- How does Jeremiah assure us that if we wait on the Lord, we won’t be waiting in
vain
? He tells us that the Lord is good to those who have hope in, seek, and wait
quietly on God.
- Read Ps 13. How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your
face from me? 2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my
heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? 3 Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; 4 my enemy will say, "I have
overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when I fall. 5 But I trust in your unfailing
love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. 6 I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good
to me.
- What are some descriptive words or phrases that describes the Psalm-writer’s
anguish
?
- He feels that God has forgotten him and hidden his face from him
- Wrestle with thoughts, sorrowful heart (every day), enemies triumphing
- At what point did God give the Psalm-writer His grace? How do you know
?
- There is a radical shift from the positive to the negative at the beginning of vs 5.
- What did the Psalm-writer do to receive God’s sufficient grace
?
- He asked God to look on him and answer him.
- He asked God to give light to his eyes.
- He trusted in God’s unfailing love.
- He rejoiced in God’s saving him.
- He remembered that God had been good to him, so he sang to Him.
- Read Ps 73:12-17, 21-26. This is what the wicked are like--always carefree, they
increase in wealth. 13 Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my
hands in innocence. 14 All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every
morning. 15 If I had said, "I will speak thus," I would have betrayed your
children. 16 When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me 17 till I
entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. 21 When my heart was
grieved and my spirit embittered, 22 I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast
before you. 23 Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. 24 You guide me
with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but
you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but
God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
- What are some descriptive words or phrases that describes the Psalm-writer’s
anguish
?
- He is frustrated that his enemies are triumphing.
- He feels that he has pursued holiness and innocence in vain.
- He feels that he has been plagued, punished all day, every day.
- He felt oppressed trying to understand why.
- His heart was grieved, his spirit embittered.
- He was senseless and ignorant.
- He felt like an animal.
- What did the Psalm-writer do to receive God’s sufficient grace
?
- He entered the sanctuary of God.
- He "saw the future"—the end of the wicked…He gained an eternal
perspective
- He remembered that he is always with God, and that God holds his hand.
- He acknowledges that God guides him with wisdom.
- He acknowledges the promise that God will take him into glory.
- He "has" God and only God for His sufficiency.
- He looked around and recognized that the world has nothing to meet his real needs.
- He recognized that everything could be taken from him, including his very live, but God
is his strength and his provision, not just for the moment of need, but forever.
- Catalog of the bad and the good from the above passages:
- Words that describe the anguish: broken, trampled, deprived, forgotten, splendor is
gone, hopeless, affliction, wandering, bitterness, gall, soul is downcast, crying
out: How long?, neglected, wrestling with thoughts, sorrow in heart, triumphant enemies,
vanity, purposelessness, failure, plagued, oppressed, grieved, embittered, senseless,
ignorant.
- Actions that brought them out of the anguish:
- Ask
God to
- Look on me
- Answer me
- Give me vision
- Trust
in God’s unfailing love
- Praise
- Rejoice in salvation
- Sing to God
- Go
where God is
- Find support in the Body of Christ
- Get nourished at Church
- Wait
for God (for His future grace)
- Quietly (without complaining)
- For salvation (our glorification with Him)
- Remember
(call to mind), realize, acknowledge, affirm
- God’s great love toward me
- I am not consumed
- God’s compassions are new every morning…they never run out
- God is faithful toward me
- God is my portion…God is where I go to meet my needs
- God is good to me
- God is always with me
- God holds my right hand…He is Abba, Daddy…I know Who I belong to.
- God guides me
- God will take me up in glory…I know where I’m going.
- God alone is my strength
- I have nobody else who will meet my true needs…God’s grace alone is
sufficient!
- What do you learn about prayer from these passages
?
- There is a strong element of desperation and urgency.
- There is a strong element of remembrance: The writers use their minds to recall all that
the Lord has done for them.
- They praise Him in prayer.
- They wait for Him in prayer.
- They gained grace through prayer.
- There seems to be a daily element to these passages. They are being afflicted daily, and
they are drawing on the compassions of God, which are new every morning—to meet their
needs.
- They draw their strength from their salvation, the fact that they have been saved. They
seem to have the attitude, "If God can save me, then why would He not provide for
me?"
- None of the writers are rosy and comfortable when they start speaking to God. They are
all looking for God, searching, waiting, feeling downcast.
- There seems to be a reality to these prayers. They aren’t praying to God for the
sake of prayer: They are looking for God’s refuge and comfort. God is their goal, not
prayer.
Conclusion
- Appropriating God’s Grace through Prayer
- One of the ways we can gain strength, or appropriate God’s grace to our lives, is
to, in the midst of our circumstances, be with God in prayer,
- Remembering all that He has provided us
- Remembering His promises for our future
- Realizing that only He can sustain us
- Trusting Him with our life
- Praising God: Who He is, and what He’s done
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