Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. 2 Corinthians 9:15
A poor cleaning lady was barely able to provide for herself and her sick daughter. The little girl often asked for some grapes, but such an extravagance was beyond the poor woman’s means. She cried because she was unable to meet her daughter’s request. On her way home from work one day, she noticed a lovely garden with all kinds of fruit trees, and some beautiful grape vines. She made her way into the garden, but encountered the gardener, who ordered her out. She pleaded with him to sell a few of the lovely grapes. Angrily, he refused, and again ordered the woman out. Suddenly, a lovely princess arrived on the scene. The cleaning lady explained her situation, and the princess eagerly took her to the grapevines and filled her apron with clusters of grapes. Overwhelmed, the cleaning woman offered the princess her last few dollars as payment, but the princess declined. ‘The king does not sell, he delights to give,’ she said. ‘Tell your daughter these grapes are a gift from the king’s garden.’ You and I have also received gifts from the king’s garden, gifts far beyond our ability to ever deserve or pay for.
The bountiful gifts of God are the only reason you and I can be up and about today. Our heavenly Father bestows on us every day the gifts of health and strength, the bread we eat and the clothes and homes that keep us comfortable. Skills to perform a job, friends with whom to converse, and so much more make up only the temporal things that God has given us. What about our Bible, our salvation, our Assembly fellowship, and so much more, far more than we can recite at a single sitting. God’s gifts flood us daily and we should be thankful, far more thankful than we are. But our text speaks of an unspeakable gift. What is that?
We need to investigate the context to answer this question. The previous verse makes it clear this gift is nothing less than the exceeding grace of God. It is unspeakable because we can never measure it, never define it, never find language capable of adequately expressing it. And yet, the exceeding grace of God is the gift that defines and provides all of the other gifts we receive from God. The grace of God is not bound by creation nor confined to time. It is not limited by our comprehension or measurable by human instrumentation. From eternity to eternity God has loved us and has expressed His grace to us. And we can never explain or understand why.
Where would we be today without the grace of God? Let us thank Him joyfully for His unspeakable gift. -Jim MacIntosh