Wonderful, Titus Chu
Songs and Hymns of Life, #143
We invite you to read and sing through the hymn before reading this post.
This week, we come to another enjoyable hymn by brother Titus Chu, “Wonderful”. The fun and bouncy tune aids to bring in the joy that we may have as we turn from our own feelings of despair to the effective working of our God in our lives. This song is so precious because it talks about the real feelings that we often may experience when coming to God, but quickly shifts to the rock-solid facts of who the Lord is and what He has accomplished.
Verse 1
Can blood so precious, so strong sustain
This foremost sinner of all?
While Satan blames and accuses oft
My impotence and fall.
I tremble, fearing the pow’r of sin,
Besieged by fear I am lost,
Though sense of sin often swallows me,
Redemption paid the cost.
O, precious blood, eternal blood!
Noble display, wonderfully!
O, precious blood, to God is giv’n,
His satisfaction see.
How many mornings have I found myself wallowing in self-pity and despair? Often it seems like the more I try to follow God, the more I fail, and the more I realize how sinful I am. In the first verse, we begin by discussing the blood of Christ. The author borrows the Apostle Paul’s reference to himself as the foremost of sinners in 1 Timothy 1:15 (I don’t know how many foremost of sinners there can be, but I myself feel like I’m in the running for that spot too!). With all of our weaknesses and failures, it seems like Satan has a good reason to accuse us. The longer I live, the more I see how powerful sin is and how I am so powerless against it. But, praise the Lord, redemption paid the cost! The blood of Jesus is effective to cleanse and take away all my sin. What precious blood! Blood that will never lose its power! When I see that God is satisfied with the blood that was shed for my sins, shouldn’t I be satisfied too?
To me, this is why this song is so helpful and inspiring: it is good to acknowledge how I feel sometimes, but what is more important is turning to the facts and allowing them to guide my experience. All too often, self-analysis has become a snare to me from which I cannot escape on my own. It’s easy to get stuck on myself, in myself, and contemplate just how terrible I am as I reel in unbelief that I messed up again for the thousandth time. But when I have just a little mercy from the Lord to look away from myself and my own failures, I can see that His blood is effective to forgive me of my sin and cleanse me from all my unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Let us continue with verse 2.
Verse 2
Is life eternal, divine in me?
Can it not vanish one day?
Through my abuse and neglect
I fear It might soon waste away.
At times it seems it might disappear,
Not bearing sinful display;
I often felt that it would depart,
Yet still it does increase.
Wonderful life, O soothing life!
Fresh and divine, so heavenly!
Wonderful life, now lives in me,
His satisfaction see.
It is the glorious and wonderful fact that I have God’s eternal, divine life in me! Hallelujah! Yet this verse again begins with our own perception and feeling. It is true that I am often guilty of both neglecting and abusing this Life in me. Too often I forget. Too many times I insist on going my own stubborn way. I can ask myself the honest question, how much more can it take? Will God’s life in me one day vanish and disappear because I went too far? Well, the answer is no! This life is based on who God is and not who we are or what we do! The life we have received from God is wonderful! It’s soothing! It’s fresh, divine, and heavenly! Praise the Lord for His wonderful life in us!
Verse 3
Can this magnificent, free release
From all oppression set free?
Although the power of sin exhausts,
His life still lives in me.
Aware that I am incurable,
In resurrection He lives;
Despite my feeling of hopelessness,
His life to me He gives.
Precious release, O great release!
Creation new, now I am free;
Precious release I now possess,
His satisfaction see.Verse 4
Am I now able to live for God
In resurrection with Him?
Unworthy feelings I often have,
Yet still He lives within.
Although death somehow might enter in,
This life is vital, prepared;
His life and my life become as one,
One life and living shared.
Oh resurrection, heav’nly, real!
O what a gain, life will sustain!
Oh, resurrection, heav’nly, real,
God satisfied will reign.
Praise the Lord for the release and freedom that we have in Him! Praise the Lord for His resurrection life in us! We often may have feelings of unworthiness (because we are!), and yet by His own mercy and grace, by His own resurrection power and life in us, God is able to reign and be satisfied! The working of His life in us brings us into such a marvelous union, that we may share one life and one living, that Christ may be magnified and expressed through us! Wonderful!
Have you had an experience of the effectiveness of Christ’s blood? How about an experience of Christ’s life overcoming in you? How has His resurrection power and life conquered your feelings of weakness and unworthiness? Please leave your replies below for the edification of us all.
