“Brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified” (Acts 20:32). We are kept by the word of His grace, but what about our failures? Does that fountain dry up? The Lord intercedes for us without our even asking. We do not gain Him, to intercede for us, because of our repentance or prayers. He did not intercede for Peter when he repented, but before he sinned; He interceded for Peter because he needed it. “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father” (1 John 2:1). It does not say, If any man repent of his sin, but “If any man sin.” That is, He wants it. It is the exercise of grace in His own heart towards us to restore our souls. It is a mistake to suppose that we invoke the advocacy of Christ—call upon Him, as we might a lawyer—to extricate us from a scrape that we may have gotten into. This is quite wrong and not the thought at all. He acts before we even think of acting; repentance is the fruit of Christ’s advocacy, not the start. “The Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly” (Luke 22:61). Peter may have abandoned the Lord in denying Him, but the Lord did not, and could not, abandon Peter. Peter’s weeping was not the end of his restoration; no, it was only the beginning. After the resurrection, Peter saw the Lord before the rest of the twelve disciples (1 Cor. 15:5). What transpired in that private meeting we are not told. Finally, Peter was restored publicly before his brethren (John 21:15-19). It is Peter who writes from personal experience: “Ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop [Overseer] of your souls” (1 Peter 2:25).
Grace is invariably viewed as all pleasantries with no rebuke or hardship. Does the story of Job bring before us the grace of God? Yes, indeed! God would not leave Job satisfied with his own righteousness. The trials God allows have a need be, whether corrective or for spiritual growth. “Now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations [trials]” (1 Pet. 1:6). It is the goodness of God that leads man to repentance (Rom. 2:4), and that same goodness continues its work after salvation. Repentance is the judgment we have passed upon ourselves, as to all that we have done and been, in God’s presence under grace. God desires not only a perfect walk, but He also wants us to be happy in a known relationship with Himself. When the heart is broken down with sorrow, faith is forced to rest upon Him in complete dependence. It is then that God comes with grace. By the revelation of Himself, in patient goodness and in strengthening power, He lifts the heart above and beyond all the sorrow. In spite of circumstances the soul is happy in the gifts of His kindness. Rest and comfort are to be found in God alone. Happiness springs from sources entirely outside of our circumstances; it can only be found in the understanding and enjoyment of our true place before God, and in receiving everything from His hand as the expression of His perfect goodness.
There is a danger, however, that we may fail of the grace of God. “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled” (Heb. 12:15). Chastening is not pleasant, and we may become despondent, even bitter—the hands hang down and the knees fail (Heb. 12:12). We lose our confidence in God. Satan loves for us to question God’s goodness: Is He really for you? Faith is a citadel that Satan cannot breach; but when we take things into our own hands, then he has gained a foothold.