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I am so excited about this post!! This is something that I have wanted to do for some time, but it is only now that the Lord is giving me the freedom to do it. Today I am taking one of the grand old hymns of the faith and breaking it down, almost like we would do with a passage of Scripture. So often we sing these hymns without really thinking about the words and what, if anything, they mean to us. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts about today’s hymn.
Today I (and Holy Spirit) have chosen Charles Gabriel’s hymn from 1905 entitled, “I Stand Amazed in the Presence”. We will look at it line by line and my reflections will be in italics and parentheses after each phrase. Join me, will you?
Verse 1:
I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene,
(Do I remain amazed at Jesus or has He become common and ordinary to me? Who is He to me?)
And wonder how he could love me, A sinner, condemned, unclean.
(It is a wonder that He loves me because I was lost and doomed for hell before His blood washed me clean. We won’t even talk about the sins I committed during my season of rebellion after I was saved!! I still have no idea why He puts up with me. Surely it is unreasonable love!)
Verse 2:
For me it was in the garden, He prayed, “Not my will, but thine.”
(Do we really understand that He was thinking about us (about Leah, about_________insert your name) when He prayed in the garden?)
He had no tears for his own griefs, but sweat drops of blood for mine.
(This is hard for me to fathom—that He, in the midst of false accusations and impending death ,really didn’t care about Himself. He was all about me!)
Verse 3:
He took my sins and my sorrows, He made them his very own;
(How many of us would be willing to pay for someone else’s crime? Not many I think!)
He bore the burden to Calv’ry, And suffered and died alone.
(He could have required that we suffer along with Him, but He didn’t. He was willing to bear all the blame for my sin.)
Verse 4:
When with the ransomed in glory, His face I at last shall see,
(When I think of seeing Him, S-E-E-I-N-G H-I-M, I can hardly wait. I cannot even imagine being able to look Him in the eye because I will most assuredly be face to the floor!)
‘Twill be my joy thro the ages to sing of his love for me.
(I cannot sing, I cannot sing worth a hoot, but oh, how I cannot wait to get to heaven and sing about Him and to Him. I am believing that it will be a joyful noise at that point.)
Chorus:
How marvelous! How wonderful! And my song shall ever be;
How marvelous! How wonderful! Is my Savior’s love for me!
(Think about it! I simply cannot fathom the kind of love that caused Him to do the things that He did for ME!! I don’t know about you but I had to take a moment, get down on my face and just thank HIM!!)
I hope the Holy Spirit will allow me to do this again because it has caused me to focus on our Lord and His sacrifice for me in a fresh way. Thank you, Jesus for your love for mankind! We love You and we praise You!
