Grace finds no sweeter backdrop (and no more important backdrop) than that of our inability, our depravity, and our weakness.
It is found throughout the Old Covenant writings (Gen 3:22-24; 8:21; 2 Chron 6:36; Isaiah 53:6; Jeremiah 13:23; 17:9), coming from Jesus' mouth (Mark 10:18; Luke 18:19; John 3:3-8; 6:44, 63-65), and throughout the New Testament (Rom 1:18; 3:9-18; 7:18, 23; 8:7; 2 Cor 2:14; Eph 2:1) that we are not able to approach God according to our own volition. The scriptures are replete concerning our depraved state and our great need for the intervention of God in order for us to seek Him at all.
We need to grasp the reality of our own inability. I pray that you and I would come to comprehend that we cannot seek God without God and that all of our ensuing communion with Him would be filled with the sweetness and knowledge of His gaze and grace.
"There is no one who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to take hold of you"
- Isaiah 64:7"no one understands;
no one seeks for God."
- Romans 3:11
If we could grasp our sinfulness, our lostness, and our inability to approach God it would surely be mercy from above; oh that God may humble us and receive from us gratitude and honor. To what do we owe our every moment and most especially our salvation? May it all be ascribed to His glorious grace and provision in Christ. Can we come after Him without His strength? Not at all, it would be right that our eyes be put out from birth rather than opened to the invisible and eternal. This is precisely the scandal of grace, it is unmerited and the opposite of what we deserve. It pleases God to bestow upon creatures the ability to approach Him through this grace and this grace is surely effective.
"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out." - John 6:37
"And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd."
How able He is to conquer our inability. How able He is to grant us salvation according to His will and not our own. We loved destruction and by default run towards it, but He intervenes through the power of the gospel. Rather than giving us what we deserve, it is given to His Son and we are redeemed. You and I cannot know God without God, may we be brought low concerning our own ability and depend fully on His mercy and grace. May we now be filled with gratitude that we know Him at all and serve Him in the light of this marvelous work He has done.