GRACE ENOUGH

The Southern Missouri Ozarks is a big, rough piece of real estate. There are great forests, quaint little towns, clear, swift flowing streams and a number of springs. In Carter County, almost on the edge of the Current River is Big Spring. At the place it breaks forth from its rocky fastness is a sign stating that it sends out an average of 300 million gallons of water every day. Imagine! Clear, cold spring water in such abundance! No one had to blast a hole in the hill from which it flows. No one brought in heavy equipment to drill for it. It was just there!


It reminds me of a story I read of an old lady in England who had never seen the ocean. She had never been many miles away from her home. She had scrimped and saved and lived on the bleak edge of poverty. Then one day some friends went on holiday to the seaside and took her along. She was totally amazed at such an expanse of water, and kicking off her shoes and lifting her skirts, she waded out into the shallows crying, "Thank God for something there is plenty of!"


Again, I am reminded of a personal experience. I was traveling from the British Virgin Island of Tortola to Virgin Gorda by the little sail boat, the Iva C., named after the missionary Sister Whistler. I noticed some buoys or floating markers to define the location of the fisherman's traps below. Being always full of questions about such things, I inquired, "About how deep is the water here?" The master of our little craft was missionary Halstead Dixon, a native Caymanian who had spent many years as a seaman. Back came the answer, "More than you can drink if you fall over, you know." Yes, I knew that, but still had no answer to my query.


We may, with mechanical and scientific devices arrive at a fair calculation of the gallons of water from Big Spring, but we can never fix a measurement on God's unlimited grace. We might make a stab at versification:


       How much water? More that you can drink.


       How much grace? More than you can think.


That is St. Paul's statement in Eph. 3:20; "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think ..."


In II Cor. 12, is Paul's account of a remarkable experience, and at the end of it, God's assurance to him, "My grace is sufficient for thee." St. Paul was sorely troubled by what he called a thorn in the flesh. There are times he asked the Lord for deliverance. All the answer he could get was that God's grace was enough for his trial. The statement is: "My grace is sufficient for thee." We translate grace as "enough."


How much is enough? All you need!