For some reason during this mindless task, some hymn lyrics came to mind:
His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
His power has no boundary known unto men.
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.
The words are the chorus to “He Giveth More Grace” by Annie Johnson Flint (1866-1932). How many times have I sung that encouraging hymn without realizing the discouraging circumstances out of which it rose?
Annie Johnson was born into a humble family in New Jersey. Three years later, her mother died while giving birth to her sister. Her father, who had an incurable disease, willed his precious daughters to another family, the Flints (thus her new last name), knowing they’d bring the girls up in a home of faith. Annie accepted Christ at age 8 during revival meetings.
CHEERFUL OUTLOOK
Annie was said to have a cheerful, optimistic outlook, even as arthritis took over her body, making her an invalid eventually confined to a wheelchair. When her adoptive parents died just months apart, Annie had to find some way to support herself and her sister. With a pen in her twisted fingers, she made cards and gift books of her poetry. One of those better-known poems was “God hath not promised skies always blue.”
Oh, the power packed into poetry and hymns, even years after their composition During World War 2, a missionary named Darelene Deibler Rose found herself in horrific circumstances as a prisoner of the Japanese. Her husband had died and she expected the same fate as she trudged day by day through the hardships of prison camp.
Just two weeks before brought to this prison, she’d felt led to memorize the lyrics of “He Giveth More Grace.” One day, returned to her cell after a hearing by her captors, her grief was almost unbearable. She cried until there were no more tears, then the words of this song came back to her. She sat up and sang:
He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater.
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.
To added affliction, He added his mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.
Eventually she would be released, and spoke and wrote widely of her experience.
I don’t intend to diminish the power of this amazing truth by comparing it to a bowl of peas. But I think the Lord spoke to me through that humble kitchen task of shelling pods of bounty. He specializes in multiplying the good things of His character: His grace, His strength, His mercy, His peace.
In our most difficult trials, they are waiting for us to discover and claim.
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