Common Grace-Genesis 21-24

Yesterday I looked at 4 instances of God's grace from the previous 3 chapters in Genesis. I discussed a little about His grace and what it looks like sometimes. God's grace is simply stated in the truth that God gives us something we do not deserve and that is an act of grace. As God's chosen people today we think of God and His grace in a big way around the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. When we think of grace, we in most ways and thoughts think of His grace in a salvation and redemption way. In the chapters today we saw a few more instances of that, one being the birth of Isaac. This is a salvation act of grace in that God kept His promise to Abraham and gave him a son and blessed that son. We also saw God and His salvation grace in the scene on top of the mountain right before Isaac is sacrificed.

But God is a God of grace to all, even to those who are not chosen and will spend eternity in Hell separated from God. God giving grace to those outside of His plan is called common grace. Common grace today is defined by Jesus as God giving rain to the just and unjust and God giving everyone safety in travel, and God blessing unbelieving parents with children or big retirement accounts. Even people taking their next breath is an act of common grace by God. In the chapters we read today we saw God and His common grace shown. God providing a way out for Hagar and Ishmael and then blessing them is common grace. 22:20 and the family listing of Nahor is God showing us His common grace to people that were outside of His chosen will. So we need to see this common grace from this text as well as every day life. God and His grace is much bigger and broader than we think or imagine as His children. We need to not only thank God every day for His salvation grace or special grace but we also need to be thankful for God and His common grace. Then while we are being thankful we can introduce unbelievers to their experience of God and His common grace in their lives and equip them to take the next step to finding God and His salvation grace. Lets not miss the bigger picture of God and His grace to all, outside our little narrow self window.