Come and see what God has done, His awesome deeds for mankind! Psalm 66:5
“We must not cease to wonder at the great marvels of our God. It would be very difficult to draw a line between holy wonder and real worship; for when the soul is overwhelmed with the majesty of God’s glory, though it may not express itself in song, or even utter its voice with bowed head in humble prayer, yet it silently adores. Our incarnate God is to be worshipped as “the Wonderful”…
Let your soul lose itself in wonder, for wonder is in this way a very practical emotion. Holy wonder will lead you to grateful worship and heartfelt thanksgiving. It will cause within you godly watchfulness; you will be afraid to sin against such a love as this. Feeling the presence of the mighty God in the gift of his dear Son, you will put off your shoes from off your feet, because the place whereon you stand is holy ground. You will be moved at the same time to glorious hope. If Jesus has done such marvelous things on your behalf, you will feel that heaven itself is not too great for your expectation. Who can be astonished at anything, when he has once been astonished at the manger and the cross?
What is there wonderful left after one has seen the Savior? Dear reader, it may be that from the quietness and solitariness of your life, you are scarcely able to imitate the shepherds of Bethlehem, who told what they had seen and heard, but you can, at least, fill up the circle of the worshippers before the throne, by wondering at what God has done.”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon in Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (Grand Rapids: CCEL) evening reading for 26 January.
On this Lord’s day, a week before Christmas, I turned my attention to Spurgeon’s classic devotional to celebrate the coming birth of Jesus and give thanks for the great things God has done on this trip.
Few things inspire our generous living, giving, serving, and loving more than holy wonder. It leads to grateful worship and heartfelt thanksgiving. We take our place in the circle with the shepherds.
This prompts within us a godly watchfulness and a glorious hope. In short, we no longer live for ourselves, but for our Savior. But it all starts with holy wonder, and we have to pause for that.
I am in my final 36 hours in Africa, sorting fiend reports, expense reports, and getting my PCR test. But I am pausing to worship. Even in this busy season, we must take time for holy wonder.
In so doing, I am seeing but a glimpse of the things that Jesus–Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace–has done for all of us in His great love.