God Speaking

“As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.”

(Mark 9:15)

Last week end was a long week end here in Canada and as the Monday was a holiday we were invited to go with our little two and half year old grandson and his parents to visit the very large aquarium in our city. What a delightful experience! The aquarium is very child friendly with strategic steps placed next to the huge glass panels so that even the little ones are able to view all the fascinating creatures who live in water. At first I spent very little time looking at the exhibits as I was intrigued by our grandson’s reaction to this startling new world he was being introduced to. His face was a study of wonder. As each new amazing sea life swam past, the wonder on his face grew and grew. His wonder became infectious and I began to see things differently, looking with childlike eyes at God’s wonderful creation, seeing God’s design in a fresh and awesome way.

I then remembered Jesus’ words that we all need to be childlike in our faith;

“…I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18: 3 – 4)

After watching our little grandson I realised how important it was to heed Jesus’ words and be like children, never losing that excitement of marvelling at the new and different. We can not only lose our sense of wonder in our everyday lives and allow hum drum to invade our thoughts, we can also let it slowly disappear from our Christian walk and apathy begins to take over, our prayer life becomes perfunctory; our worship loses its vitality; we cease to be aware of the Holy Spirit and joy disappears from our friendship with Jesus.

Scripture constantly reminds us of the importance of seeing wonder in God’s word,

“Open thou my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” (Psalm 119:18 KJV)

We can cry out like the psalmists to keep wonder in our relationship with the Lord;

“I call on you, O God, for you will answer me; give ear to me and hear my prayer. Show the wonder of your great love, you who save by your right hand…” (Psalm 17:6 – 7)

When I looked up the dictionary meaning for wonderful it read;

awesome, marvellous profound admiration for person/ object

We serve a wonderful God who is awesome, marvellous, and definitely deserves our profound admiration. Just as it is a pity when we stop being filled with wonder with the world around us , it is also so sad when we lose that beautiful sense of wonder in our relationship with the Lord, but the good news is that it is so easy to regain. His invitation for a closer walk with him is always open and Peter reminds his readers;

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

Practising to be a kid again, revelling with joy, basking in that wonderful light, will dispel any gloom. We just have to try it. Our love will blossom so others also will be filled with wonder.

The Wonder Of Your Love

The wonder of your love cleanses my soul, making me whole

It flows from above

Now I can see, your love makes me free.