Catherine Corley - Lavished With Wisdom and Understanding

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace, that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding."  Ephesians 1:7-8 (NIV)  

These two short verses give us so many promises from God.  Let's pretend we are back in school and take each part of this verse and analyze it with the help of the Holy Spirit.

First, we have redemption through His blood.  That is just glorious!  Redemption, the deliverance from sin; salvation; atonement for guilt.  Then, we have the forgiveness of sins.  He doesn't just deliver us from our sins, but He forgives them, removes them from us as far as the east is from the west and forgets them!  

So He died to deliver us from our sins, forgive us of our sins and, then, through the riches of God's grace (the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God), He has lavished us with all wisdom and understanding.

I love that word "lavished."  Lavish means "to extend or give in great amounts or without limit."  Can you imagine?  Through the riches of His amazing grace, the God of the Universe gives to us, in great amounts AND without limit, all wisdom and understanding!

James 1:5-6 (NIV) says "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.  But when you ask you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave in the sea, blown and tossed by wind." 

I don't know about you, but I have asked, begged and pleaded for wisdom and understanding and I know He gives it to me, in the amount I can handle, in spite of my tired brain.  Every morning I ask for clarity.  I want to learn every day more and more about Him and what He expects from me and desires for me.  

I dissect verses every morning and look up words in the dictionary, even if I know what they mean.  Sometimes, when you have the verse written out and have all the meanings of various key words written out with them, it can overwhelm your heart with joy and, best of all, wisdom and understanding.

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O Lord, grant us wisdom and understanding today so we may learn more about You and how to serve You better.  Please keep our eyes open to Your spiritual truths.  Give us opportunities to serve You, even in small, unexpected ways, as we go about our day.  In the name of Jesus, Amen.