I wonder what world you and I awake to every day, a world that confronts you or a world that gently wows you? I have learned over the years not to compare each persons world as we can so quickly dismiss other Peoples world though our own coloured view-point. What seems so insignificant to you may be so large and debilitating to others, yet in this world there are some things that flatten the field of play, so to speak, and we can all empathise, the birth of a child, the loss of a loved one, the securing of some future event, having the supply of food on your table.
My aim is to encourage you to consider the world you awake to today, perhaps an exciting event begins todays adventure or perhaps an unsettled issue hung over from last night, or even the concern on how we will get through the next day and survive it. So many worlds we awake to each morning. What is the world before you? how is it rolling out in front of you? A small decision, a huge event, a life changing or even a threatening day “……..this is my day……..”Stop now and have a look at your world, the people who occupy it with all the movement of life, the events that create the terrain before you, the valleys and mountains to walk. Stop for a moment and think what is my world like, what will I see and experience today?
The Psalmist in Psalm 98:1 (Message) says “Sing to God a brand-new song. He’s made a world of wonders! He rolled up his sleeves, He set things right. The context of the song is important here, to sing a brand new song is a good thing but some times as life is overwhelming we can not find a new song. I am told in our travels in Africa that we should understand that “Africans sing if they are happy and sing if the are sad, so they sing at all times” Celebration and song is a way of life there, happy or sad it’s a song, I don’t find that in the West however perhaps it is something we should learn. One of the many things I love about my wife is that she carries a song within her constantly and when she looses that it changes her view and her inner ways, I see the impact of carrying an inner song in her which is wonderful and one of the many things i love in her. OK back to the context of the song, do you not see it here its, “he’s made a WORLD OF WONDERS” this has to be a good way of life, realising that my life and my song has a connection to a WORLD OF WONDERS. With my every turn, as I open my eyes there are wonders to be seen and found, our Father has filled a world out with wonders for us to see, find and encounter so that we become those that anticipate wonders with every new day. Perhaps “new mercies every day” have a direct relationship with realising and seeing a world of wonders as well.
Our song Is through the medium of his wonders, I will say it again our new song has a direct relationship to the wonders we see. May be songs are not sung when we do not account for the “…world of wonders…”. O Lord I want to see your wonders at every hand not a narrow band but be overwhelmed at every hand, seeing your wonders all around us, circulating our lives a “…world of wonders…”
“The wonders of our God” the old hymns sung, it is the record and impact of God with his rolled up sleeves creating wonders, these are the impact of this hymn. Charles Wesley saw “O for a thousand Tongues’ to declare the wonder of our God, he grasped and saw.
Oh That we might see the world of his wonders, just as Charles Wesley seeing every aspect of God coming through and causing us to shout with him, with the shout of the deaf and the leap of the lame, shout wonders of our world to God.
Our world is his palette, his brush stroke as he lays down his mark throughout our world, can I be one that will see the world of wonders around me constantly. O God I ask for a life filled by the world of wonders – then push for it son, I feel and hear a cry inside me, for the world of wonders, your world your creative order where you are.
We are invited as the readers to sing to the Lord a new song (cf. 33:3; 40:3; 96:1; 144:9; 149:1) because in His strength (right hand and arm are symbols of power) He has provided salvation and revealed His righteousness. God’s great salvation is possible because of His loyal love (ḥeseḏ) and faithfulness (these may be trans. “faithful, loyal love”). Remembering His covenant with His people Israel, the Lord delivered and saved them. A WORLD OF WONDERS surrounds us waiting for us to pay attention even in the midst of life and challenges of struggles.
LET ME EVEN GET TO THE POINT, LET ME CHALLENGE YOU TO SEE THE WONDERS THAT AWAITS YOU IN THIS DAY, not just the miracle of healing which is magnificent in its self but wonders of life, growth, change, wonders in every way. My cry is that we do not lose the wonders of our world for one wonder only but that we are able to encourage each one of us to be awakened to the wonders of our Father
In view of the wonders of grace and righteousness displayed in God’s salvation, the whole creation is invited to unite in praise. My spiritual father loved the song by Louis Armstrong “What a wonderful World” and every time I hear this song sung I think of him, but even with out that thought I find that song moving me to appreciate the wonders of the world he has planted us in. I am fully aware that there are human horrors taking place that many encounter each day yet in the midst of the world, shocked as we all can be of human atrocities, just t stop and wait and begin to part those things to see and look at the wonderful world that the Father has given us, he has and will enable us to see himself in our day. I pray Lord that though the dim light sometimes of life we will see the world of wonders so that we may see our immediate world transformed through the palette of your brush strokes our lives. That you might see the wonder of s simple life, that you might see the wonders of God at every hand throughout your day, how he involves in daily actions in and through you and those around you
Open your eyes to the world of wonder!
Face2Face - Gareth Duffty Blog 