- Managed to annoy my sister and
- Slip into some old immature habits :-/
On the up side, I've:
- Been greeted by my OMS family with warm hugs and smiles
- Spoke briefly in Chapel about the mercies of God - Ps 111:1-3
- Had a wonderful time at Coffee Break at MFM
- Went shopping at the Mall with Daddy - and was NOT stared at by everyone there!
- Visited Grama and Grampa!!!
- Played Mexican Train
- Ate Mother's amazing home-made Enchilada's for dinner!!!
- Met a newbaby OMSer ;) - just 3 months!
- And was awestruck by the words to Selah's song 'Mystery'.
It's been a busy day - just remembering it all is tiring me out and I really should get to bed as it's after one now - but I felt the need to write and pour out what's on my heart.
It is the song "Mystery" that I really wanted to take some time to talk about...the one verse that got me I've bolded - but it seems to lose some of it's power when taken out of the rest of the song - so I've copied the song in it's entirity:
A child was born on Christmas Day
Born to save the world
But long before the world began
He knew His death was sure
The pain and strife secured
Mystery, how He came
To be a man
But greater still
How His death was in His plan
God predestined that His Son would die
And He still created man
Oh, what love is this
That His death was in His hands
The Christmas trees
They glow so bright
With presents all around
But Christmas brought
A tree of life
A tree of life
With blood that sacrificed
The greatest gift in life
Mystery, how He came
To be a man
But greater still
How His death was in His plan
God predestined that His Son would die
God predestined that His Son would die
And He still created man
Oh, what love is this
That His death was in His hands
I am just a man and
Can’t begin to comprehend
When You look into this traitor’s eyes
What do You see that justifies the Lamb
God predestined that His
Son would die
And He still created man
Oh, what love is this
That His death was in His plan
Mystery, mystery
Even now as I read through it again - I get tears in my eyes. The chorus too, is captivating.
The word 'selah' means to think about/reflect/ponder/meditate on.
And I am doing just that. The chorus and verse stood out to me - blaringly - forcing me to stop mid-game and say - "Wow. Those are really powerful lyrics." That was hours ago. I've been 'selah-ing' ;) and here's what I've discovered:
- God - All-knowing, all-loving, ever-present, self-sufficient One,
- Predestined that His Son - this one whom He loved above all others, would...would what?
- Die. DIE?!?
- And yet, He still created man. - Man who would turn away, would choose in ignorance and lust to be 'more like God' would eat of the forbidden fruit and forever corrupt and destroy the relationship with the loving Creator. Man who would kill His Son. He STILL created Man. I echo the words:
- Oh what love IS this? That His death was in His plan...His PLAN! From the beginning He already knew, He already loved.
And as I sit here and 'selah', the song continues to challenge, reverberating in my head:
- "I am just a man" - a mere human, who screams "Why?!?" at the simplest ordinances that come from Him, who cannot even BEGIN to understand this love - "this love that surpasses knowledge" (Eph 3:19).
- "Can't begin to comprehend" - how true - I fall so short - His thoughts and His ways are so much higher than mine.
- "When You look into this traitor's eyes" - Oh my God! How this describes me - a traitor to my God and my King - yes, Lord - it IS a probing question...when You, Abba, look into my eyes
-"What do You see that justifies the Lamb?" - What is there? In my sin, in my weakness, in my utter betrayal of You? what can even be thought of as *justification*? For the Lamb - the perfect, final sacrifice for my sin and the sins of the world? There is nothing in me that justifies this act. This, is pure LOVE. So rich and full and endless, it rolls over me and engulfs me - I sit here with tears coursing down my face- it is UNBELIEVABLE. And yet. It is TRUE.
What love is this? This is the love of a Father for a Child. The love of a Husband for a Wife. The love of a God for His Beloved. This is the greatest love this world has ever known. That I have ever known.
And even though I know it - I want to live it. I want to live this love. To live this mystery.
