scripture and prayer reflection
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Lyrics
I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene
And wonder how He could love me
A sinner, condemned, unclean
Singing how marvelous, how wonderful
And my song shall ever be
How marvelous, 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
Singing how marvelous, how wonderful
And my song shall ever be
How marvelous, how wonderful
Is my Savior's love for me
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
Singing how marvelous, how wonderful
And my song shall ever be
How marvelous, how wonderful
Is my Savior's love for me
Isaiah 53:4-6, 10-11
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
Romans 5:6-8
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Reflection
Amazement is a hard place to live. It’s not that we don’t bump up against things that amaze us, or find astounding beauty in the world around us. Paul E. Miller, in his book A Loving Life, describes our experience of beauty as something that strikes us silent and expands our souls. We all have moments we can remember in which we encountered beauty and soaked it in with awe.
The difficulty lies in familiarity. The more time we spend with something, the more familiar it becomes, and with familiarity can oftentimes come a sort of ho-hum feeling, a slow death of wonder and amazement. The “honeymoon phase” wears off and things become normal and expected, perhaps even taken for granted.
This can happen with our everyday surroundings — we get used to our daily commute, or in this season of quarantine, to the objects in our living room. It can also happen with the people we love, as daily life with a spouse eventually loses the same thrill that it first held. It can also happen in our interaction with the beauty of the gospel. It’s easy to lose track of the beauty around us, even beauty that we at one time noticed and loved.
One of the reasons we celebrate Christmas and Easter each year is in order to remind our hearts of the surprising grace and goodness of the gospel. We need reminders, like spiritual alarm clocks, to awaken us to the reality in which we swim on a daily basis. We are under grace, always. We are loved, always. We are secure, always. But we easily forget how jaw-droppingly amazing it is that this would be our reality.
None of us deserve any of this. We didn’t do anything to merit it. God didn’t owe us anything when we were in rebellion to Him. It’s crazy that He would decide we were worth redeeming, particularly in light of the great cost He paid to purchase us back. Even more so when you consider that He planned to rescue us even when we were still rejecting Him. And yet from the get-go of creation He was ready and willing, and had a plan in place for how He would accomplish His goal of bringing us back to Himself.
Take some time to reflect on your own life. What makes it easy to take the gospel for granted? What helps wake up your heart to remember how amazing the good news of Jesus’ redemption truly is? Sit with the story of God’s love incarnated for you, and try to see it with fresh eyes. Consider responding to God’s grace in song (even if you think you don’t have a good singing voice), worshipping with thanksgiving and praise. Talk with God about what comes up.