Replacing The Blahs...

This morning was not one of those days that you want to write home about.  I had a weird night, didn’t sleep much and woke up feeling like I had just unloaded a truckload of bagged soils from the Home Depot, where I used to work, by hand!  When I rolled over and attempted to focus on the clock, I finally figured out that if I wanted any time alone with God that I had to get up NOW!  So I turned, plopped my head on my wife’s side, told her that I loved her and that I was going to study the Word for a little while.  Then I summed up all the courage I could muster, gave the sleeping dog who was all stretched out next to my wife a quick pat, and dragged myself out of the bed.

I felt like I was moving in auto pilot as I made the coffee, turned on the computer and fished around in the study closet for some kind of coat since it was a little chilly in the house. It wasn’t until I had sat down at my desk and attempted to jot down some notes that I realized that I had put on my extreme cold weather jacket that I used to wear during the snowy winter days while working on the job outside in Oklahoma.  The sleeve was so thick that it made writing fairly cumbersome, but I was toasty warm, felt too lazy to get up and change it and just put up with the inconvenience!

I was thinking kind of sluggishly as I glanced down at my Bible and didn’t really know where to begin, when the words from an old hymn that had been floating in and out of my head for several days loomed loudly in my mind.

“To God be the glory, great things He has done;

 So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,

 Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,

 And opened the flood gate that all may come in

 Refrain

 Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,

 Let the earth hear His voice!

 Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,

 Let the people rejoice!

 O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,

 And give Him the glory, great things He has done.

Verse 2

O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,

 To every believer the promise of God;

 The vilest offender who truly believes,

 That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

 (Refrain)

 Verse 3

 Great things He has taught us, great things He has done,

 And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;

 But purer, and higher and greater will be

 Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.”  

 (Refrain) *

As I worshipped the Lord through the verses of this timeless masterpiece, I physically felt my energy increasing, my joy returning and my purpose for life re-firing within me.

“Great things He has taught us, great things He has done,

 And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;”

Suddenly the tired fog and lethargy that had captivated my being just moments before, lost its grip upon me.  I had a new and stronger power about me!

“Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,

 Let the earth hear His voice!

 Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,

 Let the people rejoice!

 O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,

 And give Him the glory, great things He has done.”

As I looked up to Him I witnessed a new strength, I gained a new focus, and I was ready to take on the new day!

“But purer, and higher, and greater will be

 Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.”

Have a GREAT day.  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What ‘GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE’ are you expecting today?”

*  Words: Fanny Crosby in Brightest and Best, by W. H. Doane and Robert Lowery  

   (Chicago Illinois: Biglow and Main 1875), number 118

   Music: W. Howard Doane