Today is Easter. This morning at Wildwood Community Church during our time of praise and worship, Edie Russell shared an intro to the song “You are My King” (an updated version of Charles Wesley’s “And Can it Be?”) that I was particularly moved by. I asked Edie for the text, and have included it here on my blog for all to see. He is risen! He is risen indeed!
At the time of creation, God looked around at everything He had made. It was beautiful. It was perfect. And He said, “This is good”. And I think if we had been there with Him, we would have echoed those words with Him – yes, this is good.
But there are also a couple of other times when I believe God said again, “This is good” that I would have had a hard time standing by Him and repeating those words.
There was a day many years later that a small tree seedling came out of the ground and began growing. And God knew that this was the day He would see that seedling. And I believe once again God looked at that tiny tree and said, “This is good” – knowing that this tree would one day be the one that man would cut down, and form the cross that He would one day be crucified on.
Now I don’t know about you, but if I had a tree growing in my backyard that I knew I would one day be crucified on, I would have a hard time watching it grow, and still be saying “This is good”. That is an amazing love.
And then at some point in time, there was a new baby boy born – God’s Word does not tell us his name. But I believe that as his mother laid him down that first night, God looked down from Heaven above at those tiny eyes and again said, “This is good” – knowing that several years down the road there was a role reversal coming. This time God’s Son, Jesus, would be laying down on His back, on that cross, and that baby – who had now grown into a man – was now holding a hammer, ready to swing, and put the nails in His hands and feet. Don’t you have to wonder if that man looked into Jesus’s eyes? I don’t know if he could or not. But what I do know is that before that hammer swung, Jesus was able to look up into THAT man’s eyes, and still say in His heart, “This is good. This will be my demonstration of my amazing love for you.”
Who has that kind of amazing love?? Who else would look into MY eyes and say, “This was all good.” No one but Jesus would, and did, die for me.
The song “You Are My King” does a beautiful job of simply allowing our heart to worship through humbly asking the question, “Lord, how could You have died for me? How could I have been worth that?” And then just a beautiful response of 5 words that says it all…”Jesus, You are my King”.
I pray that your heart is open to feel and to see His amazing love for you. – Edie Russell