How Marvelous, How Wonderful!

This morning I woke up with a song running through my head. The song is My Savior's Love, which is also known by it's opening line, "I stand amazed at the presence."

The particular part of the song that was running through my mind was the chorus, which says:

"How marvelous, how wonderful! And my song shall ever be:

How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me!"

This morning the words of that chorus reminded me of a few things. The first is the great distance between a holy God and each and every human being, the distance between the Creator and created people. That distance was present for Adam and Eve but they were able to have easy fellowship with God so long as they remained obedient.

We know how the story went. Temptation to distrust God appeared on the horizon and they changed course to follow that path, rather than the course God had given them. Every human since then has lived with a two-fold separation from God. We have lived with the Creator/creation distinction, and then also the problem of being marked by our own sin.

How can a sinner stand in the presence of a holy God? We can make all kinds of excuses and rationalizations, but at the end of the day there is no satisfactory answer, at least none that will come about through our own efforts. The only hope that we have is through the gracious gift of God in Jesus. Paul said it this way:

"but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners,

Christ died for us."

That is the marvelous, and wonderful, love that the song sings of. That while we were in our sin and far from God, his Son died to remove the stain of our sin and allow us to come before God and be in his presence again. The Creator/creation distinction remains but the separation due to my sin has been removed because I believe in what the Son did for me. May you too trust in Jesus and taste the marvelous, wonderful love of God in your life.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.