Speechless
And I am speechless I’m astonished and amazed
I am silenced by your wondrous grace
You have saved me
You have raised me from the grave
And I am speechless in your presence now
I’m astounded as I consider how
You have shown us
A love that leaves us speechless(Steven Curtis Chapman, Speechless)
One night about 2 weeks ago these lyrics became more true to me than ever before. I had never before been left “silenced by [His] wondrous grace.” God had answered a prayer for my family in a way that seemed impossible. It was nothing short of a miracle! It was the oddest feeling to not be able to express my emotions; I just wanted to cry as I was overwhelmed by a sense of God’s grace. I don’t know if you have ever experienced such a thing to that extent, but I know I never had. Sure, I’ve been in awe of God’s faithfulness, and I’ve been overjoyed by his love, but never had I been speechless. In that moment I saw God’s hand and providence clearer than I had ever imagined. I was brought to tears by the grace of our God. Nothing, absolutely nothing at that moment could make me lose focus of God’s glory.
As time went on, I noticed that speechlessness and awe dwindling. Though my faith was increased, I found myself slipping back into the usual routine. Why is it that just a week earlier I couldn’t open my mouth with praising His name, or being flooded with joy, and then . . . already I had forgotten all about it. Was God not so awesome and sovereign anymore? By no means! Every day He showed Himself faithful. So what was it then that made my heart forget? I was distracted – distracted by myself, by my desires and expectations. I lost sight of God’s glory, of Christ, of the cross. In that moment of awe a week before, my eyes were on the cross; they were off of me and onto Christ. But it’s so easy to be distracted by the world, by our desires, family matters, work, etc. My desire is to always be in awe of God’s glory. I don’t want it to be a occasional experience; I want it to be a daily experience. Because of the sinner that I am, and the distractions I fall for, I need to be reminded of the Gospel on a regular basis.
I think it’s easy, as Christians, to say we know the Gospel. In our heads we have little to no problem with saying things like “God is faithful,” “God is in control,” “All works together for the good of those who love him,” “God saved me by His amazing grace,” but those things only become true in our hearts when we see them in light of the Gospel.May we be faithful in reminding one another of the Gospel frequently.
Filed under: Christian Living, Joy in Christ
I love that song! Steven Curtis Chapman is one of my favorite artists. I can’t say that I have ever been speechless to the extent that you have described, but I know that many times I have difficulty finding words to express to God my love and gratitude to Him. Sometimes I just can’t say anything that seems accurate enough! And isn’t it incredibly easy to lose focus of Him??? Sometimes I think it’s an absolute bother to be human. (But I know God made us to be human and loves us that way.)
I’m so eager to be frequently reminded of the Gospel, and I know this blog wil help to do that. God Bless!
I found this website less than a week ago, and I’ve already visited it at least ten times.
Thanks for the post and to the whole group, thanks for the blog. I’m “feeding” it to my 13-year-old daughter and trusting that she’ll develop some of the heart you all have for the Lord & His glory.
I appreciated this post; and yes, I’ve experienced those moments when all one can do is be silent before the Lord. I think the psalmist knew the truth behind this experience, when he wrote “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46.10).
As to the experience of “forgetting” this in your heart, I think there are two reasons for that. You spoke of one: that of our sinful nature and desires still in this life crowding out that overwhelming sense of God’s working in us and for us. It is a sad part of our lives. And yet, I think that leads us to the second reason we don’t get to “hang on to” those experiences constantly - it’s not time for us to get them constantly. That’s the hope of heaven, the great joy held out for us in eternity in God’s presence. If God granted us the ability to always have those kind of “spiritual highs” we might idolize them and forget the God who gives them to us. We wouldn’t long for heaven as much, because we could simply say “Why do I need to go there? I’m getting it all here.”
So, the next time this happens (and I’m pretty sure it will), give great thanks to God for it, remember it (through journaling and blogging… always helps to read and remember), confess your weakness in sin that keeps you from knowing God’s grace more in these situations, and then cry out, with the writer of Scripture, “Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!”
Amen. What a good reminder to keep my eyes on Him.
Thank you, Riëtte, for the wonderful devotional this morning. You’ve left me with a lot to ponder….
Kevin: yes, you are right; that desire to “hang on to those experiences constantly” is a desire/hope for heaven. I can’t wait for the day that we get to see our Savior face-to-face! Talk about being speechless!!
Yes, journaling/blogging is a wonderful gift in remembering those moments. I love sitting down and reading through my old journals - some from only a couple of months ago. It’s a good reminder of my weakness and God’s faithfulness!
Great post. I just found this blog thanks to The Rebelution’s feature on it.
I just wanted to point this out: the focus should be not be on the experience so much as what is driving the experience. In other words, we shouldn’t live life with our eyes on Christ because it feels good or because we enjoy the experience. (I know that isn’t what you were saying.) If the surrender drives the experience, that’s great, but we should submit to God no matter how we feel.
Basically, I’m trying to say that the focus should be on God, and if it’s a great experience, so much the better. While I believe that God will give us that experience when we surrender to Him, that shouldn’t drive our surrender.
Excuse me for rambling on here, but hopefully putting it several different ways is helpful.
It is interesting to me that we, who call ourselves Christians, profess by claiming Christianity to believe that there is a God, that He Loves us, that He gave His Son to be crucified on the Cross so that we could be Saved, that He will give us eternal life, and that He will save us from Hell where we deserve to go and instead allow us to live with Him forever in Heaven . . . . . yet we often fail to believe that He will care for us Lovingly on the little day to day matters — like finances, health, security, the help we need from Him to do His Will, etc. What fickle creatures we are! It is so good to be reminded and to remind each other to Trust Him in everything, to praise Him for the little things, to never forget Who He is and ALL that He has done for us.
Thanks!
Yes, we are forgetful creatures. Probably why we are encouraged to pursue God diligently every day. If we are not intentional we will forget. (Post It Notes are wonderful if you have a memory as bad as mine)
We will not always have the same emotional experience of the greatness of God, but we will be glorifying Him by acknowledging our dependance and repeating the truths of His character back to Him.
Great post! I’m thrilled to find a few of the rare ladies who love the Lord most and honor His word! Blessings!
It astounds me how much God is speaking to me this week about consistency. I recently starting blogging on my own and I started posting a series of letters and the recurring pattern in each letter that I’ve posted/read is that God must be constant for you to grow in your faith with Him. Thank you for reminding me indirectly. :]
-Bee-