Standing in Wonder

I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!

He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own;
He bore the burden to Calvary,
And suffered and died alone.

When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see,
’Twill be my joy through the ages
To sing of His love for me.

{Charles Gabriel}

 

Sometime I Forget to Wonder

I forget how big God is and how small I am.

"He looked down from his holy height;

from heaven the LORD looked at the earth"

{Psalm 102:19}

I forget my righteousness is only because of a sinless, bruised, blood-stained Son of God who became a Man

I forget that I am a created being

"And the vessel he was making of clay

was spoiled in the potter's hand,

and he reworked it into another vessel,

as it seemed good to the potter to do."

{Jer 18:4}

I forget, and so I forget to wonder ~
 and begin demanding...
   *I demand answers
   *I demand change
   *I demand my rights
   *I demand now

And then God graciously reminds me of who He is, and who I am, and what I am here to do.

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,

 

nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

{Romans 8}

I Wonder...But Thanks Be to God!

I wonder as I wander out under the sky
How Jesus the Saviour did come for to die
For poor on'ry people like you and like I;
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.

When Mary birthed Jesus

'twas in a cow's stall
With wise men and farmers

and shepherds and all
But high from God's heaven,

a star's light did fall
And the promise of ages

it then did recall.

If Jesus had wanted

for any wee thing
A star in the sky or

a bird on the wing
Or all of God's Angels

in heaven to sing
He surely could have it,

'cause he was the King.

I wonder as I wander out under the sky
How Jesus the Saviour did come for to die
For poor on'ry people like you and like I;
I wonder as I wander

out under the sky.

{John Jacob Niles}

"When I look at Your heavens,

the work of Your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which You have set in place,

[I wonder...] 

what is man that You are mindful of him,

and the son of man that You care for him?"

{Psalm 8:3-4}

"For God so loved the world,

that He gave His only Son,

that whoever believes in Him

should not perish but have eternal life."

{John 3:16}

"Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!"

{II Corinthians 9:15}

different context...

same great thought :)

Mary's Baby Boy...Our Deliverer

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will one
day walk on water?
Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will save
our sons and daughters?
Did you know
That your baby boy has
come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered
Will soon deliver you...

{Mark Lowry}

I hope you're stopping to be amazed during this season.

I love the lights...the music...I love the fact that this is the beginning of Easter.

In the mind of God, Christmas and Easter were all planned before time began. And all of the Old Testament pointed to the coming of the Messiah. But Christmas--the Incarnation--when Emmanuel came--this is the beginning of the miracle of redemption.

I probably said the same thing last year. But exciting things are worth mentioning more than once. :)

The reading for my class these past few weeks have been about salvation. Redemption. Justification. Forgiveness. God imputing His righteousness to us.

That's an amazing concept. That God would humble Himself and become the baby of a sinful woman (obedient and faithful, yes, but still a sinner), to grow up to die a horrible death. Not because He had to...but because He loved us and wanted to redeem us.

Have you ever thought about what humility really looks like? For those of us who grew up in church and even have memorized Philippians 2 before, we can easily take it for granted. But Mary's little Boy was not a normal child, not even just a prophet or a good rabbi. He was God.

He became like one of us...so that we could become like Him.

But when the fullness of time had come,

God sent forth his Son,

born of woman, born under the law,

to redeem those who were under the law,

so that we might receive adoption as sons.

For those whom he foreknew

he also predestined to be conformed

to the image of his Son,

in order that he might be

the firstborn among many brothers.

And those whom he predestined he also called,

and those whom he called he also justified,

and those whom he justified he also glorified.

{Galatians 4:4-5, Romans 8:29-30}

Sometimes I Wonder

* I wonder...what would it have been like to walk through the red sea?

*What would it have been like to be a Canaanite girl sitting by the Jordan River and all of a sudden the water flowed by and was no more (for awhile at least...and then to be there when the water started to flow again)?

*What would it have been like to grace myself against a fiery furnace only to begin walking through the flames like it was a flower garden...with God?

*What would it have been like to see Jerusalem again after 70 years...the joy, yet the heartbreak at its ruin?

*What would it have been like to be a shepherd kneeling at a manger? Would I really have understood?

*What would it have been like to eat the fish and loaves? Would I even have realized it came from nothing?

*What would it have been like to be praying for Peter, and know that God miraculously opened the prison doors?

*What would it have been like to see a friend fall from a window but to be assured by Paul he was okay?

*I wonder what it would have been like to be Mary. To be Joseph. To be Mary's parents or Joseph's parents.

Sometimes I wonder...

Do you?