A Spring of Joy

So, I’ve decided to start doing a weekly Wednesday post, called… you guessed it! Wednesday Worship.

Each Wednesday I plan to share a song that God has been really using to speak to my heart that week. Sometimes it’ll be a new song that I’ve discovered, sometimes it will be a favorite hymn that has ministered to me for years. I’ll tell you who it’s by, where you can buy it, and how God has used it in my life.

AND I’d love to hear from you and hear what you’re listening to that encourages you and brings you closer to Jesus.

Seriously, y’all don’t know just how giddy I get when you comment on my blog. I get all warm and fuzzy and happy. I am self-absorbed like that. I love the lovin’! But let’s just go beyond me and my feelings here. I really would love to hear what music brings you to worship Him, and who knows? Maybe your song will be my next Wednesday Worship song and God will use you to bless others. I love how He does that!

Let’s begin.

This week I’ve been reading a lot about the glory of Christ in His suffering. I reread a description of just what He endured on that Friday before He rose again in victory. It literally sent shudders through my body. The whips slicing flesh from his body, the thorns shoved into his brow, the rusted nails pounded through His hands and feet, the suffocation as His body caved in on itself, but most of all, the wrath of God poured out on Him. Something He had no need to experience, but He chose to suffer for me. “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) I deserve everything He suffered. I deserve the wrath of God. But because of His wounds, I get my healing. That amazes me. Humbles me. Brings me to worship.

I grew up singing the hymn “Stricken, Smitten and Afflicted”. It was written in 1804 by Thomas Kelly. While I’ve never listened to much by Fernando Ortega, his version of this hymn (it is the original tune) is breathtaking. The harp, the harmonies, the cello all help communicate the mournfulness of how Christ suffered but also create the beauty of His suffering. It is on his “Beginnings” or “Night Of His Return” CD, and you can download the song through iTunes or Amazon.com mp3 downloads.

My favorite is the last line of this hymn. No one shall ever be ashamed when their hope is in our glorious Savior!

Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See Him dying on the tree!
‘Tis the Christ by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!
‘Tis the long-expected prophet,
David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
By His Son, God now has spoken
Tis the true and faithful Word.

Tell me, ye who hear him groaning,
Was there ever grief like his?
Friends thro’ fear his cause disowning,
Foes insulting his distress;
Many hands were raised to wound him,
None would interpose to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced him
Was the stroke that Justice gave.

Ye who think of sin but lightly,
Nor suppose the evil great
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the sacrifice appointed,
See who bears the awful load;
’tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed,
Son of Man and Son of God.

Here we have a firm foundation,
Here the refuge of the lost;
Christ’s the Rock of our salvation,
His the name of which we boast.
Lamb of God, for sinners wounded,
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on him their hope have built.

Amen and amen!

How is God encouraging your heart through worship this week?