Lost in Wonder

 

“One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works.”

—Psalm 145:4-5

My old copy of Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines the word “wonder” as “rapt attention or astonishment at something awesomely mysterious or new to one’s experience.”

Children seem to catch the wonder of a moment more quickly than adults, probably because, to a child, everything presents itself as something new. However, if we take the time, adults can experience wonder, too.

Charles Wesley, the author of more than 6,000 hymns, occasionally would “borrow” phrases from the hymns of others. One such phrase he used, originated from the hymn, “When All Thy Mercies, O My God,” written by Joseph Addison in 1712.¹

In this hymn, Joseph Addison looked back over his life and surveyed the way God had cared for and guided him from infancy through youth, in hidden dangers, sickness, sorrows, and “every period of my life.” As he considered all the times and ways that God’s good providence had washed over him, Addison stated that, he got:

… lost in wonder, love and praise.

As for Charles Wesley, he used this phrase in his well-known hymn, “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling,” written in 1747.² Wesley wrote this as a corporate prayer, asking God to work in His church to make us, His people, like Him—filled with His love. Wesley asks for Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God the Father Himself to invade the hearts and minds of God’s people with His awesome character. We find the “borrowed” phrase at the very end of the hymn, where Wesley concludes:

… Till we cast our crowns before Thee, lost in wonder, love and praise.

Taken together, we see that God fills our earthly life with the wonders of His grace. And yet, we look forward to even greater wonders when “in heaven we take our place.” What a wonderful meditation from two godly men of the 18th century.

Let me suggest you find the words to these two hymns, meditate on them, and use them as a means of worship and praise. Lose yourself in the wonder of our gracious and glorious God!

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1 Addison, Joseph. “When All Thy Mercies, O My God.” Public Domain.

2 Wesley, Charles. “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.” Public Domain.

 

 

And it Came to Pass ...

 

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

—Ecclesiastes 3:11

I never stopped to think too intently about the phrase, “And it came to pass …” Because, like the phrase “Once upon a time …” that first phrase often appears in fairy tales. It also repeatedly comes up in Scripture with the regularity of a “Verily, verily …” or “Finally, brothers …” But, this time I paused in my reading to realize that, at some point, all the instances of our lives do, indeed, come to pass. They may have begun, but they also will end. They have “come to pass.”

As much as we like to hold on to the familiar, we are told in Matthew 24:35 that even:

Heaven and earth will pass away.

It’s certainly true that throughout the existence of our universe, things come to pass. Now perhaps that kind of statement shakes our foundations a bit. If we believe that God is the “Blessed Controller of all things,” we can relax in the knowledge that a wise and loving Father God plans out and executes the unfolding of our futures.

In Revelation 21:6 we read these words of Jesus Himself:

“I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.”

We also have the written Word of God in Psalm 139:16 that states:

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Another way to look at this phrase, “And it came to pass …” has to do with troubles in our lives. Sometimes we think they will never end—that God has ordered something and we have to deal with it forever. Not so. We should remember that troubles, too, will eventually “come to pass.”

The Psalmist in Psalm 42 and Psalm 43 was downcast because of trouble in his life. But, he spoke these words to himself three times:

What are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

I once heard a sermon where the pastor preaching called this “the eventuality of God’s work.” We can rest in the knowledge that our wise and loving Father knows just how long our troubles will last. Whether they have their ending at some point down the road on this earth, or whether at the moment we pass from life here to new life in Eternity, our troubles will end.

And, oh yes, if we belong to God, through faith in Jesus Christ, we can know for a certain that not only do things “come to pass”—but that truly, we will live “happily ever after.” How’s that for a good and proper end to the story?

 

 

Little is Much

 

“Your procession has come into view, O God… There is the little tribe of Benjamin, leading them.”

—Psalm 68:24, 27

Jesus understood small things and appreciated their worth. In Luke 21:1-2, He remarked about an incident, barely noticed by anyone else:

As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “I tell you the truth,” He said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others.”

Jesus honored the smallest things by pointing them out and using them for His glory. The story recorded in John 6:1-15 of the five thousand plus people who came to hear Jesus speak, points to His use of small things.

These people had come out from nearby towns and had been there many hours listening to Jesus. He told the disciples that they needed to feed them. They brought Jesus all they could find: the small lunch of a little boy that contained five small barley loaves and two fishes. Jesus showed His appreciation and used this small gift by multiplying it to serve all five thousand people present, with twelve baskets of food left over.

What do we have so little of that we feel God cannot use? Time? Money? Talent? Strength?

In Judges 6-8 we read the account of Gideon in the days when the Midianites invaded the land of Canaan. God called Gideon to save His people. In Judges 6:14-15, God said to Gideon:

“Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

“But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

The story goes on to point out how God chose to use this reluctant warrior. God chose to use Gideon because Gideon was the weakest available: the runt of the litter.

We need to think beyond ourselves, too. Maybe God wants our family, or our neighborhood, or our work department, our school, or our office staff to do something big for Him. Even more, maybe He purposes to use our little church for a big ministry, when it may seem that plenty of mega-churches in our area could do the job so much easier.

God’s voice asks of the prophet in Zechariah 4:10:

“Who dares despise the day of small things?”

Instead of bemoaning our lack of anything, let’s praise God for small things and small strength. He wants to show His mighty power through us. May we submit to His will and watch the blessings follow!

 

 

The Mysterious Queen of Sheba

 

“The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.”

—Matthew  12:42

This intriguing queen, from a story recorded in 1 Kings 10, not only was mentioned in the Old Testament, but also in Ethiopian legends, as well. She was known as a searcher for truth, and had heard about Solomon’s fame and his relation to the name of the Lord. With a large caravan of camels loaded with spices, gold, and precious stones, she traveled a long distance, in order to ply Solomon with her questions.

Solomon, traditionally known as the “wisest man who ever lived,” welcomed this Queen from the area we now know as Yemen. He answered all her questions, welcomed her into the royal palace, and entertained her at his table with all the attention of devoted servants and cupbearers. She also accompanied Solomon to the temple, where he made burnt offerings to the Lord and where she saw the worship of the one true God.

Anyone would have been impressed by the wealth and achievements of Solomon. But, as recorded in 1 Kings 10:9, she responded to what she had seen by saying:

“Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king, to maintain justice and righteousness.”

This woman, with her thirst for spiritual things, recognized the presence of the Lord God in all of Solomon’s blessings. She hungered for truth and found it. Jesus Himself acknowledged her recognition of truth, and condemned those from His generation who couldn’t see the legitimacy of His Kingdom, even when the Truth walked among them.

Jesus welcomes all who truly seek truth. He, who is “the way, the truth, and the life,” is no respecter of persons. As He clearly said, as recorded in Matthew 7:7-8:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Just as King Solomon welcomed this questioning woman from a faraway land, Jesus waits to answer our questions and reveal Himself to us. Maybe it’s not so bad to have someone say: “Who do you think you are, the Queen of Sheba?”

 

 

King Me!

 

“I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.”

—Isaiah 42:8

This past weekend, the whole world watched as a man, whom many of us have followed his entire life, achieved the position he had dreamed about and hoped for all of his adult years. Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor was formally crowned King Charles III, King of the United Kingdom and monarch of the 14 other realms of the British Commonwealth. While it is unlikely that he would do so, as we watched his Coronation, we could almost hear Charles turn toward the Archbishop of the Church of England and humbly say: “King Me!”

At one time or another, most of us have played the game of Checkers and know that when our “man” reaches the first row of the other player’s side, we gleefully shout, “King Me!” As a result, we get an extra “man” on top and, now that our “man” is a “king,” he can move in any direction we want to move him.

Let’s face it, don’t all of us want to be “King” of our lives in that way, so that we can move in whichever direction we desire? According to Paul David Tripp: ¹

We all demand to be in the center of our world. We all tend to be too focused on what we want, on what we think we need, and on our feelings. We all want our own way, and we want people to stay out of our way. We all want to be sovereign [king] over our lives and to write our own rules … When we are angry, it’s seldom because the people around us have broken God’s law, most often we are angry because people have broken the law of our happiness.

Yet, over and over again in Scripture, Jesus reminded us that He is King and wants us to honor Him as King. Paul reminds us in 1 Timothy 6:15-16, that He is:

God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

Again and again, Jesus taught about His Kingdom: how to enter the Kingdom, how to become great in that Kingdom, what the Kingdom is like, and to whom the Kingdom belongs. In fact, those who belong to His kingdom have made, and continue to make, Him the Sovereign over their lives.

Our sinful nature compels us to want to be the “king” of our own lives. The culture around us lives with that guiding principal. This poem perfectly demonstrates that philosophy. ²

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
for my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
my head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
how charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.

We can see the contrast in this passage from the writing of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2:8-11, written about our King of kings:

He humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Though it requires of us humility and suffering, this remains the Kingdom to which we belong and the King to whom we bow! And, that should surely be enough for us.

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1 Tripp, Paul David. Come, Let Us Adore Him. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Publishing Company, 2017. p. 83.

2 Henley, William Ernest, Invictus. Chicago, Illinois: Poetry Foundation Publishing Company, 2019.

 

 

Gathered

 

“These [all creatures] look to you to give them their food at the proper time. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things. ”

—Psalm 104:27-28

I usually buy groceries once a week. We, in America, generally like to “stock up,” so that we can feel certain that we won’t run out of anything. Some of us even like to visit the warehouse food stores, in order to save money by buying in bulk. Concerned about some disaster, some people even stock freeze-dried food and have large underground shelters full of provisions for any upcoming catastrophe.

Contrast all of this with the Israelites, who trekked across the wilderness for 40 years. Not only did they not have room for stock piles of food, they had no food to store. They literally lived hand-to-mouth. Every day they went out, as God had told them to do. Exodus 16:4, 12 explains:

Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions … In the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.”

I’ve come to realize that our “Bread of Life,” the Lord Jesus Christ, wants us to come to Him daily for the provisions we need for each new day. We can’t “stock up” for the future. We must often come into His divine Presence.

When we gather physical food, we provide ourselves with all the nutrients we need for good health. We get calcium, protein, iron, vitamins and minerals of every kind—all to strengthen us for the day. Not only that, God has given us the capacity to enjoy our food with various tastes and smells.

Just so, we also need to come to our Lord for the spiritual food that we need to nourish our spiritual existence for each day. He has all the spiritual nutrients we need: strength, grace, peace, guidance, help, and much more. Along with these spiritual nutrients, He gives us the capacity to enjoy His provisions. Just as the frosting on a dessert blesses us with delight, so His joy comes as a spiritual “frosting” on top of all the other spiritual blessings He so lovingly provides for us.

God tests us to see if we can trust Him for our daily spiritual food. He will not give us grace for any of those future days we tend to worry about. But, He will grant us all we can gather up in His Presence each morning.

Please join me every morning, as we set aside a specific time, in order to gather the abundant provision God has for us. And, in the evening, let us remember with delight and with thanksgiving the tasty spiritual food He has given us for that day!

 

 

An Unusual Kindness

 

Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us because it was raining and cold.

—Acts 28:1-2

We just don’t forget an unusual kindness that someone may have done for us. Likewise, the missionary Paul, on his way to prison in Rome, spent three months of his journey on the island of Malta because the ship that took him shipwrecked there. The Apostle Paul either journaled about, or merely remembered, the extraordinary and unusal kindness with which the strangers on that island had greeted this dirty, water-logged group of men. It was truly an unusual kindness!

When Corrie ten Boom recalled the days after her release from the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp at the end of World War II, she specifically remembered the nurse who led her down gleaming corridors into a room with a steaming bathtub. She stated that nothing ever felt as good as that bath. She also commented on the bed with sheets and how she could not get enough of running her hands over them, as they soothed her swollen feet. It was truly an unusual kindness! ¹

A missionary, Gracia Burnham, had much the same reaction after spending a year running, hiding, sleeping on the ground, and watching her husband die in the wet jungles of the Philippines. In her vivid remembrance, she too recalled the spotless sheets and the comfortable mattress. She compared them to the terrifying nights she had spent in the open. It was truly an unusual kindness! ²

When we imagine the unusual kindess of strangers that prompts them to take specific action, especially for the benefit of those who have lived through horrific circumstances, we realize that the “Gift of Kindness” comes about as a remnant of the image of God in human form. Jesus—God incarnate—also shows us an unusual kindness. His kindness is always beyond our need. His kindness is always beyond our deserving. His kindness always prompts us to make changes in our lives.

In Romans 2:4, the Apostle Paul asks:

Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

Imagine the Apostle Paul, or Corrie ten Boom, or Gracia Burnham turning down the unusal kindness that was shown to them! God’s purposes through His unusual kindness lead us to repentance for our “old rags.” His unusual kindness offers us fresh, new garments in which He invites us to live.

The Prophet Isaiah, writing in Isaiah 61:3, expresses God’s unusual kindness this way:

… to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

Yes! It is so very true that, in God’s loving and unusual kindness, God has a “garment of praise” for us in exchange for the “garment of a faint spirit”—that is, a spirit of despair. This is truly an unusual kindness!

First of all then, let us praise God for His unusual kindnesses to us, in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. These gifts of unusual kindnesses that God gives to us should be remembered and shared, especially when we speak about our stories with others.

Secondly, we need to recall the unusual kindnesses that others have shown us—the unusual kindnesses that have led to producing good outcomes in our lives.

Thirdly, as carriers of God’s image, let us show the same kind of transforming unusual kindnesses to others around us. Let us continually ask ourselves: “This day, to whom is God asking us to bless with unusual kindness?”

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1 Ten Boom, Corrie with John and Elizabeth Sherrill. The Hiding Place. Old Tappan NJ: Revell Company, 1971. p. 228.

2 Burnham, Gracia with Dean Merrill. In the Presence of My Enemies. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Book Publishers, Inc., 2010. Amazon Kindle location: 4309.