lyrics for living 14 (but now)

A verandah with a view. A lake in the foreground. A mountain in the background. It was perfect. For six consecutive mornings, I rose early at Lake Toba, opened my Bible and my books – and waited for the dawn to come.

The transition from darkness to light is often used as a picture of responding to Christ’s love and being drawn to Him. For some it is like the dawning of the day. Quietly. Slowly. Imperceptibly. Grace goes to work. This is my testimony. For many years I thought it was no testimony at all. I don’t really remember a time when I did not belong to Christ. Yet through heritage, through family – and then through Jesus at work in my life, the light dawned.

But other testimonies are more akin to one night in Toba. New Year’s Eve, to be exact. I can no longer stay awake until midnight. What’s more, the first few hours are my heaviest sleep. Nothing can wake me at midnight – that is, until the deafening sound and the bright lights of fireworks in Tuk Tuk at Lake Toba on New Year’s Eve. I awoke. I stirred. I looked at my phone. Exactly midnight. I got up. I enjoyed the sounds and sights. This, too, is a picture of conversion – but more the Damascus Road variety. The light needs to be bright, the sound deafening.

Reading through the New Testament with an eye for what it says about the world is my current project. One morning, as I awaited the dawn, it was:

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, 
so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ …
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light to shine in our hearts 
to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 
(2 Corinthians 4. 4, 6)
As I reflected – and watched – my mind traveled over to the lyrics of a hymn…
Lord, I was blind, I could not see in Thy marred visage any grace;
But now the beauty of Thy face in radiant vision dawns on me.



Lord, I was deaf, I could not hear the thrilling music of Thy voice;

But now I hear Thee and rejoice – and all Thine uttered words are dear.

Lord, I was dumb, I could not speak the grace and glory of Thy name;
But now, as touched with living flame, my lips Thine eager praises wake.
Lord, I was dead, I could not stir my lifeless soul to come to Thee;
But now, since Thou hast quickened me, I rise from sin’s dark sepulchre.
For Thou hast made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak,
the dead to live; and lo, I break the chains of my captivity.
Here is someone working their way through these words, as they strum on their guitar:

nice chatting

Paul

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About Me

paul06.16

the art of unpacking

After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.

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