Even more than we hoped for.....

In the first week of our study, we saw that Peter reminded his readers of the grace and the peace (in abundance, he said) that is part of the wonderful life of believers.

Let's resume at verse three and go on to verse four:

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (II Peter 1:3-4)

Abundance.
Extravagance.
Does this make you imagine presents? Gifts? Christmas time?
Probably not many of us who study here grew up in a wealthy family. Far from the "lap of luxury," we probably still have fond memories of a certain Christmas when we had something special in mind as we eagerly awaited the presents under the tree. Perhaps we were hoping for one special gift, and of course, for weeks before, we would have let hints drop repeatedly. Maybe circled a page in a catalog. (Oh, I'm showing my age again.....these days, it's sending a link to a web page, not working with an actual turn-the-pages catalog. But those were WAY more fun!)
Anyway, when Christmas morning dawned, we may have been blown away by the fact that not only was our hoped-for gift there, but maybe some other, smaller things, as well. I know that even when times were hard, we always tried to make Christmas as special and fun as possible for our kiddos.

Have we ever considered the fact that we are blessed with more than we could hope for?
Our heavenly Father is extravagant in His mercy, His grace, and His blessings. He always seems to give us even more than we hoped for!

I've been reading lately in the Old Testament, and two stories have brought this home to me. I hope you'll bear with me as I remind us of two people who received far more than they hoped for . . .

Remember our study of Abigail? Back in chapter 25 of I Samuel, we found her intriguing story.... the men who guarded Nabal's (Abigail's hubby) sheep had been aware of David and his army; they had been around the flocks and helped to protect them all summer from marauders and thieves. When David sent his men to ask Nabal for some food, he was foolish (like his name says) and churlish - he not only refused the request, but he insulted David and the men. David and his men strapped on swords and planned their revenge, while Nabal's servants ran to Abigail and told her what had happened. Abigail quickly put together a mobile feast and loaded it onto donkeys, combed her hair and brushed her teeth (Grin) and set out to see David.
Abigail bowed before the future king and told him that she knew God had appointed him king, and that she wanted to prevent him from future regrets: for unnecessary bloodshed. She asked him to accept the gifts of food, and allow himself time to cool off. Smart lady!
David agreed with her and she went home to her hubby who was celebrating the end of the season, and was quite drunk. The next morning when he sobered up, she told him how his life (and the life of all men on his property) had been saved. Days later, Nabal was dead.
And the end of the story is that instead of being a widow, with no rights or income, or anything, which was customary in that time, she became the wife of the king! David sent for her and she accepted his proposal, and became his wife.  Probably more than she'd hoped for, right?

The second story is that of Mephibosheth. His story is found in II Samuel, and at this time, David is on the throne of Israel. He is searching for any member of the house of Saul -- not to kill him, as would have been the custom after a rival had been vanquished, but to show kindness for the sake of his boyhood friend, Jonathan. Turns out that Jonathan had a son, Mephibosheth, and David sent for him; he had him brought to the palace. I expect that Mephibosheth was pretty scared -- as we said, in those days it was the custom to kill any blood kin of their predecessor, in order to prevent rebellions and such. Mephibosheth approached king David and then "fell on his face and did reverence."  We can see that Mephibosheth was expecting judgement. He was expecting to be killed. He just knew for certain that this was the day he would die.... Instead, he received grace and mercy!
David restored the family lands to Mephibosheth, and commanded servants to work in the fields and bring in the harvest. Then he invited Mephibosheth to live in the king's palace, and announced that he'd be cared for and would eat from the king's table, just as David's own sons did! For all practical purposes, he adopted Mephibosheth!
He truly received more than he'd hoped for.

These stories paint such clear pictures of what God has done for all of us. He's shown us mercy and grace, and sealed our salvation. He has shown us extravagant love and adopted us into His family. There is no way we could ever deserve all the blessings He has bestowed on us! Surely Peter must have had the psalmist's song in his mind -- the same one we studied: Psalm 103.

This will be our theme this week as we study these verses: more than we could have hoped for!