What could God have done with us instead of providing salvation?

God could have let us slip out into an eternity lost and without hope. Instead, by His grace, He presented us with the plan of salvation, and we have responded, so that we are now positionally accepted in the Beloved.

Les teaches that this is all by grace: we deserve none of it and nothing in this world, yet whatever we have and enjoy—spiritual, material, or physical—is by the grace of God. He says he does not deserve it, nor do we, but it is by His grace that we are accepted in the Beloved. Les explains that being in the Beloved means being in Christ, and we are in Christ by His grace. God could have let us slip out into an eternity lost and without hope, but by His grace He presented us with the plan of salvation, and we responded, so we are now positionally accepted in the Beloved.

Ephesians 1:6

To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

What did God do instead of letting us slip into an eternity lost and without hope?

Instead of allowing us to slip into an eternity lost and without hope, God, by His grace, presented us with the plan of salvation. We responded, and we are now positionally accepted in the Beloved—in Christ—not because we deserve it, but solely by His grace.