October 28

For how then can it be known that Your people and I have found favor in Your sight, unless You go with us? How else will we be distinguished from all the other people on the face of the earth? — Exod 33:16 BSB

Grace is always “found.” It is not earned, merited, or worked for, but it is stumbled upon, much like the treasure in the parable of the man who found it hidden in a field (Matthew 13:44). The man wasn’t looking for the treasure; he was likely plowing the field, unaware that there was gold beneath the ground. But he found it suddenly, unexpectedly, and in the most unlooked-for way. For joy, he “went and sold all he had and bought that field.” This is how grace is found. It comes suddenly, unexpectedly, and sweetly into a person’s soul. When grace comes, it’s like finding something you never imagined was there, something you never knew how to obtain. When grace enters the heart, you find you’ve stumbled upon a treasure.

The treasure found in the field was all the sweeter to the man because it was unexpected. If he had earned it penny by penny, it wouldn’t have been as valuable to him. Its sudden appearance, the joy and surprise of finding it, doubled and tripled its worth. In the same way, when grace visits the soul in an unexpected moment, like dew from heaven, it is valued far more than if it had been earned bit by bit. The sweetness of grace is magnified by its unexpected arrival and by the marvelous and miraculous way in which it comes.