awed by His grace... amazed by His mercy...

A story I've heard multiple times... struck me very differently during praise and prayer... as I focused on the one receiving justice... instead of the one with wisdom...

Read 1 Kings 3:16-28

Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

1 Kings 3:16 ESV

Two prostitutes... these are the women who came to seek justice before the king...

I knew it... 

but it just never impacted me before...

it came as a new revelation of the depth of His grace...

Prostitutes... 

not women of great character or means... sinners...

the king heard their complaint...

Then the king said, "The one says, 'This is my son that is alive,

and your son is dead'; and the other says, 'No; but your son is dead,

and my son is the living one."

1 Kings 3:23 ESV

Prostitutes... they have bastard children...

no identifiable father...

no surname...

no worth...

except to their moms...

And the king said, "Divide the living child in two,

and give half to the one and half to the other."

Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king,

because her heart yearned for her son,

"Oh, my lord, give her the living child,

and by no means put him to death." But the other said,

"He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him."

Then the king answered and said,

"Give the living child to the first woman and

by no means put him to death; she is the mother."

And all Israel heard the judgment that the king

had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king,

because they perceived that the wisdom of God

was in him to do justice.

1 Kings 3:25-28 ESV

The wisdom of God...
poured out to bring justice...
to a prostitute and her illegitimate son...

The community stood in awe of the king...
they perceived the wisdom of God to do justice...

Me... I sat in awe of the King...
as I perceived the depth of His grace...

He hears the cry of the streetwalker...
He listens patiently to her complaint...
by His wisdom...
He brings justice...
to a brokenhearted prostitute....

The truth is... each one of us comes as a prostitute before Him...
idolaters... adulterers... sinners...
but by His wisdom...
He brings us justice...
through His Son... Jesus...

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus,

who became to us wisdom from God,

righteousness and sanctification and redemption...

1 Corinthians 1:30 ESV

Awed by His grace... amazed by His mercy...