Hebrew 4:16 ‘Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.’

• DAILY READING – – 1 Timothy 1; Isaiah 31-33; Psalm 119:33-64

During the holocaust, when Adolf Hitler sought to annihilate all Jews, the Jews in Denmark experienced unexpected help from strange quarters. Inexplicably, one of the high ranking German officers, instead of joining his nation to fight against the Jews, rather turned around to help them. George Ferdinand Duckwitz was a German diplomat who worked for Hitler. However, as Hitler’s violent intentions came to light, Duckwitz became disillusioned. And when he heard of the deportation of Jews to the death camps, Duckwitz quickly moved into action. On September 22, 1943, he flew to Sweden where he met with the Swedish President and asked for his help to accommodate the fleeing Jews from Denmark . The president gave him assurance of his help.

And so Duckwitz planned the deportation of Jews from Denmark. Arrangements were made with fishermen to transport the Jews across the river to Sweden. Duckwitz then instructed the leaders of the Jews to inform the Jewish people to go into hiding and prepare to leave the country.  As a result, in the following days, when Hitler’s army arrived in Denmark, they hardly found any Jews during their raids.  The local people had hidden the Jews and afterwards, they helped them to get to the seashore from where the Danish fishermen transported them into Sweden. The quickly organized rescue operation, which lasted for three weeks,  moved thousands of Jews to Sweden aboard hundreds of small boats in one of the most heroic rescues of the Holocaust. As a result, none of the Jews from Denmark were sent to the concentration camps, where most inmates perished of hard labor, disease, starvation, or death in its notorious gas chambers. Duckwitz was the highest-ranking German officer to be involved directly in the rescue of Jews on this scale. After the war, his heroic actions were made known and on 21^st March 1971 the Israeli government gave him one of their highest awards of ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ and included him in the Yad Vashem memorial.

It is indeed quite inexplicable that such a highly placed German officer would risk everything in order to save the Jews who at the time were considered enemies of Germany. The answer could only be God’s grace. Indeed when grace is at work, there is no limit or hindrance to the ways and means through which God will help us. He can save by few or many. He can raise help for you from strange quarters. He can use the unexpected, the unimagined. God can use even your enemies to favor you.  Indeed it is by God’s grace that men are made great.

However, grace can be frustrated, paralyzed and crippled: Paul said: ‘I do not frustrate the grace of God:’(Galatians 2:21]. We must be careful therefore not to take the grace of God for granted. Grace is our guaranteed flight into greatness, but  we must be careful to avoid the habits that can cripple and strangulate grace, some of such anti-grace habits include sin and pride.

To see the greater flow of grace in our lives, we must be willing to maintain a fervent prayer life, because the prayer altar is the fountain of grace.. We must also engage in in-depth study of God’s Word because according to 2 Peter 1:2, grace multiplies by knowledge. Indeed everything great is rooted in grace. And by the grace of God at work in our lies,  we shall surely see glory this year.  Though you went through fire and through water, God is about to bring you into a wealthy place. There is a shift taking place in your circumstances. Everything that has been a set-back and a hindrance is about to turn around for your good. Help will arise for you from the least expected quarters. and people you don’t even know will be used by God to bless you. God will appoint for you midwives to help you birth your dream and through God’s grace, your expectations shall not be cut short.

PRAYER: Lord, I thank You for Your grace at work in my life. Indeed I know that even right now You are at work to perfect all that concerns me. Thank You Lord for causing all things to work together for my good in Jesus Name.

QUOTE

When God places His hand upon a man in life nothing can come against him, this is because the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.