Remember The Wonders (Thanksgiving 2004)
1 Chron 16:12 October 10, 2004
Intro: (calvin and Hobbes cartoon)
Remember The Wonders
Verse 12 of 1 Chronicles 16 says, “remember the wonders”. Can you?
Birth
The wonders began the day we were conceived. There in the safety of our mothers womb we grew, God superintended the dividing of cells, the stem cells differentiating and becoming a heart, a finger, skin, and brain. Psalm 139 describes God’s activity as “knitting” us together there in the womb. For most of us, there was the wonder of loving, excited parents eagerly awaiting the day of our birth. And there, at the moment of conception, something eternal began – a new soul, able to be full and alive, able to love and be loved, able to become a child of the living God. God looked deep into the soul He was creating, and loved you.
And then the day of your birth came. You and I do not remember that day, but it is one our parents would never forget. A wonder emerges through the pain, and when that tiny, helpless bundle is placed in the arms of a loving mother and father, another wonder begins: the love of parent for child. A love that stands fast through many trials, a love that guides and corrects, a love that makes mistakes and causes pain and then grieves those mistakes, a love that rejoices in accomplishment, and then a love that opens hands and lets go.
Creation
As we grew, we discovered the wonder of the world around us. We discovered beauty and wildness, we discovered how diverse and harmonious and dangerous life is in the number of creatures with whom we share this earth. We discovered the power of God in storms, the warmth of God in the rays of sun, the steadfastness of God in the mountains that stand tall and the rivers the constantly flow. We discovered with David in Psalm 19, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.”
Do you remember the wonders, and do they make you feel thankful?
Relationship
In that period of discovery, the most important thing we discovered was people. We discovered the wonder of relationship. We discovered that there are people around us who love us and want to be with us, with whom we could laugh and play, cry and be comforted, challenge and grow, people with whom we could share all the amazing experiences of life. We discovered relatives who had deep emotional attachments to us, friends who shared their joys and struggles, a community in church and school and neighbourhoods who helped us grow and become mature and responsible and secure.
Remember the wonder of relationship? Of sharing the deep places of who you are, of opening up and risking hurt, of discovering you were not alone but that others felt the same way too? Remember the thrill of shared adventure, of biking or hiking or waterskiing or whitewater rafting or fishing, of campfires and conversation, of birthday parties or pajama parties or tenting in the backyard? We may not have realized it at the time, but our earthly relationships are a reflection of the wonder of God.
Of course remembering our relationships is not always positive. There are many painful memories as well. But even in those, can you remember the wonders? The wonder of a friend who was there to listen and share the pain. The wonder of a God that kept you and protected you and continues to heal you. The wonder in many cases of a restored, forgiven, stronger relationship – we sometimes miss remembering those because we want to forget the pain. Maybe you can even remember the wonder of how something painful and difficult and ugly opened a door to something far richer and deeper than you could ever have known without the pain. It is good to remember those as well, because they teach us to hope in our current struggles as we remember the faithfulness of God, and they teach us to thank God for our pain as we see in hindsight how “all things work together for good.”
Matthew Henry, who wrote a commentary on every book of the Bible, was once robbed. The thieves took everything of value that he had. Later that evening he wrote in his diary these words, “I am thankful that during these years I have never been robbed before. Also, even though they took my money, they did not take my life. Although they took all I had, it was not much. Finally, I am grateful that it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.”...
As we remember the wonder of relationship, do you remember the wonder of your first love? Your first kiss? How it felt to be alive and unique and strong and understood? Do you remember how it felt to be in love, to be romanced, to win the heart of the girl? Do you remember staying up late into the night sharing stories and dreams and experiences, of laughing till your sides hurt, of hoping and then rejoicing that your feelings were returned?
What about today’s relationships, can you remember the wonder in those? The wonder of family, who stick by us, challenge us, care for us, love us even when we recognize that we are not being particularly loveable.
What about the wonder of a spouse, who stood up next to you years ago and promised to love you through the good and bad, to share life, adventure, sorrow, as long as you both shall live?
Or the wonder of a child now caring for you. Or the wonder of a grandparent who calls to encourage, who brings gifts, whose love is so free and pure and joyful. The wonder of that special aunt or uncle or cousin who always had a way of making you feel special.
Remember the wonders. Remembering makes us thankful.
Remember the wonders of your friends. Proverbs 18:24 says, “there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Someone said to me this past week that, for the first time in their life, they have found in their family group some people who would gladly be at their door at 3am if they were needed. On this thanksgiving Sunday, can you remember the wonder of friends like that? Who notice you are feeling discouraged, and reach out to encourage. Who notice you are feeling lonely, and reach out with companionship. Who notice that you are doing something stupid and care enough to challenge you. Who weep with you, who eat chicken wings with you, who come and help you build your fence, who pick up your kids when you run into a problem and can’t get there.
What about your relationships with people here in your church? An extended family, full of knowledge and resources and experiences and the love of God. People with a world of knowledge and experience they love to share, people glad to come alongside and teach, encourage, serve, lead, and pray. People in your family group because they want to get to know you and love you deeply, they want to share their life with you, they want to be a part of a community where people are valued and respected and appreciated and supported. That is a wonderful thing.
God
And what about God. Let us remember the wonders God has done.
I hope you have recognized God in all the things I’ve already talked about, but let us turn our thoughts there specifically. What are the “wonders” God has done in your life?
I have already mentioned the wonder of our very being – the wonder of life and breath and opportunity to love and be loved.
Next, there is the cross and the empty tomb. The greatest wonder of all is simply this: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.” The greatest wonder of all is that Jesus, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!” (Phil 2).
The greatest wonder of all is that Jesus died for you. Jesus rose from the dead for you. Jesus is alive today so that you can enjoy life to the full, and eternity even better than that.
We didn’t deserve it, but God did it anyway. He rescued us and promises to rescue us again and again. He saved us from the power of sin and offers us power to live differently.
What is more wonderful than that?
What about the times you knew God close? Remember those wonders. Remember how God was there, you knew it was Him, you were full and loved and challenged, your heart overflowed with the love and forgiveness of God. Remember how you were broken by your sin, but then you were forgiven and lifted up, you were convicted and then set free. Remember how you were healed – spiritually, physically, emotionally. Remember how the Word of God came alive as you read it and studied it, how you were excited and convicted and went out and lived differently.
And what about this last week? Did you notice all the wonders God was doing as you walked (or ran…) through life? The wonder of freedom, the wonder of choice, the wonder of diversity, the wonder of employment, the wonder of joy, the wonder of opportunity. God is there in each of those, enriching and motivating and loving.
Remember the wonders. They bring us to thankfulness, to praising God for His goodness to us. And they give us hope.
Conclusion:
Some 3rd-graders were asked to write down the 7 wonders of the world. They took blank pieces of paper, & started writing down what they thought were the 7 wonders of the world. After a while, the teacher collected the papers & began looking at their answers, things like the Grand Canyon, the pyramids in Egypt, the Taj Mahal in India, wonders from all over the world.
But one little girl was still busily writing. The teacher asked her, "Aren’t you through? I just asked you to write down the 7 wonders of the world. What are you writing?"
The little girl answered, "Well, I don’t know if these are the right ones or not, but I have a whole lot more than 7."
The teacher said, "Hand me your paper & let me see what you have written." Then he started reading the little girl’s list of the 7 wonders of the world. "To be able to see, hear, think, breathe, touch, run, love, laugh." And the list went on.
David’s psalm of praise ends with these words:
34 Give thanks to the LORD , for he is good;
his love endures forever.
35 Cry out, "Save us, O God our Savior;
gather us and deliver us from the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name,
that we may glory in your praise."
36 Praise be to the LORD , the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Then all the people said "Amen" and "Praise the LORD ."
