“Wondrous.” Would you slow down long enough to think about that word with me for just a moment?
“Wondrous.” It’s one of those words we stretch for when words seem inadequate to describe what we’re seeing or experiencing. “Wondrous” things are remarkable–worthy of undivided attention. “Wondrous” things are extraordinary–not to be glossed over or taken for granted. “Wondrous” things make us marvel; they amaze and even stun us at times. “Wondrous” things awaken that sacred sense of childlike curiosity within our sleepy hearts. In a world where “awesome” gets tossed around to describe everything from the Grand Canyon to pepperoni pizza, “wondrous” things are “awesome” things in every sense of the word.
You’ll see all sorts of things today, and a great many of them won’t be what you would have chosen if you could. Sad things. Scary things. Confusing things. Foolish things. Disheartening things. Worrisome things. Selfish things. Discouraging things. Hurtful things. Evil things.
We all know we can’t snap our fingers and make those things disappear, so what will we do?
Many of us will walk through the day aimlessly. We’ll bounce off whatever circumstances surround us, just doing whatever we have to do to get through a day full of all those rough things. We’ll be a lot like that “wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind” (James 1:6). The eyes of our hearts will be closed and all we’ll “see” is the good, the bad, and the ugly this world has to offer.
But what if we took the time to pray from hearts that are hungry and thirsty for “wondrous” things? What if we followed the lead of the psalmist and spoke directly to the God who hears…
Open my eyes, that I may behold
wondrous things out of your law. (Psa 119:18)
Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous works. (Psa 119:27)
“Wondrous.” You’ll see all sorts of things today, and a great many of them won’t be what you would have chosen if you could, but “wondrous” things are not beyond your reach. Our glorious God specializes in “wondrous” things. He has preserved an incredible revelation of “wondrous” works. He continues to invite us in to “wondrous” prayer. Every single day his creation is full of “wondrous” testimony to his eternal power and divine nature.
It’s so very easy to walk through a day, a week, a season, an entire lifetime blind, numb, dulled to the “wondrous” because our minds are flooded with and anchored to so many earth-bound, temporary, trivial things. But if we would hear and feel and follow the prompt of Psalm 119 today…
Open my eyes…
Make me understand…
Clearly, we need “wondrous” help. We don’t have it all together; we aren’t sufficient in or of ourselves. But if we will slow down, tune out, log off… If we will take the time to seek the face of a truly “wondrous” God…
Open my eyes, that I may behold…
Make me understand, and I will meditate…
…we will discover all over again a deep, living well of “wondrous” things.