Grace Shown Seen or Unseen

“Though grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and regard not the majesty of the Lord.” –Isaiah 26:10

In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that the drunk driver involved in the accident had received a gracious wake-up call (because no one was hurt by his actions) and that I hoped he would listen and respond. That reminded me of this verse in Isaiah 26 which tells us that grace is shown to the wicked—to those who don’t live for God, to those who aren’t yet even thinking of turning to God.

I love that! Though the verse focuses on the consequences of not learning from gracious wake-up calls, I love knowing that God gives them! God loves all people, regardless of what they have done or how they respond to Him. He is constantly working behind the scenes to teach righteousness, to draw all who don’t yet know Him into His Kingdom.

That drunk driver now has a choice. He can recognize God’s majesty in the events of the accident and praise God for sparing him from a murder conviction on top of his DUI, or he can learn nothing from the experience and go on doing evil just as he was.

Sometimes those who do wrong get second chances. When they do, rather than cry, “No! That’s not fair!” as we're sometimes prone to do,* let’s pray they’ll see God’s majesty at work and respond to His gracious ways.

Lord, please show grace to the wicked, so they will learn righteousness. And please help Your children to live uprightly—in Jesus—that the unsaved will see and respond to the Your majesty!


*I'm most definitely not crying, "No fair," this time. God's grace toward the drunk driver spared two innocent lives, including the life of my loved one. Sometimes God's grace toward unsaved people helps His children, too!