Embracing Wonder

This past week it was like the word “wonder” just came out of nowhere.  I love when God does this.  Verses I have read before jumping off of the page in an entirely new way, speaking directly to my heart in this particular season - the exact representation of what the Hebrews writer meant by “the word of God is living and active”.  I saw this word in its various forms (wonder, wonderful, wonders) and wanted to look it up.  The dictionary says that wonder is “a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar or inexplicable”.  

I have mixed feelings about this definition.  How many times do “surprise and admiration” come out of the “unexpected, unfamiliar or inexplicable”?  If we’re honest I’m guessing the responses in that category would be more along the lines of fear, anxiety or suspicion.  But why?  David, in Psalm 77, is encountering a desperate situation, to the point that he feels as if God has turned against him.  In verse 11 however, David moves forward through the fear and distress by simply recalling the Lord’s “wonderful deeds” and His “great wonders”.  He continues to let us in on his specific reflections: the wonder of how God made a way out of no way through the Red Sea.  It is through the very things that we deem insurmountable that God uses to cause wonder!

I think the formula for wonder looks something like: God’s ability to do the impossible + my belief in that ability.  We are fully capable of believing that God can do the impossible but as Dr. Dharius Daniels puts it, “Do we believe He can do it for us?”  If we stop short of adding our belief to God’s ability, the opportunity for wonder can slip away.  Let’s take our cue from David and recall God’s wonderful deeds!  Wonder reminds us of how God has already moved on our behalf.  Wonder causes us to see possibilities in hopeless situations.  Wonder carries us forward by faith making room for God to continue to work wonders.