During the evening worship service tonight at my church we looked at God’s wrath against the sin of the people of Canaan in the book of Joshua. The message lead us to that beautiful old truth that we are saved by grace, God’s grace. Just as the people of Israel were not to think that God had chosen them for the promised land because of their merit (Duet. 9:4), neither should we ever think, even for a moment, that we have done anything to merit God’s favor and our salvation.
Agnus Dei was one of the songs we sung tonight. It’s always a beautiful song; it just sounds antique. Singing it often makes me feel some sense of connectedness to the generations of the church who have gone before me, worshipping the Lord. The song is beautiful and goes like this:
Alleluia alleluia
For our lord God almighty reigns
Alleluia alleluia
For our lord God almighty reigns
Alleluia
Holy holy
Are you lord God almighty
Worthy is the lamb
Worthy is the lamb
You are holy
Holy
Are you lord God almighty
Worthy is the lamb
Worthy is the lamb
Amen
For whatever reason, I was poised to wonder some things about the song. Firstly being, “do I know what Alleluia actually means?” It was only seconds before the worship leader spoke up for everyone and reminded us that Alleluia, or Hallelujah, basically means, “Praise the Lord.” Then I went on thinking, why do we say “Praise the Lord for being almighty and reigning”? I certainly don’t mean to contend against it saying that we shouldn’t praise the Lord for that reason. It was more of a logically based question—why is God’s almighty power reason to praise him?
It dawned on me after some contemplation and quiet prayer that God’s almighty reining power is the sole reason we can count on his grace. If God was gracious and loving, but not all powerful, we would have no reason to be able to count on it actually being effective. So it makes good sense. “Praise the Lord, because he is all powerful, he reigns, there is nothing outside of his control, and there is nothing that will thwart his gracious plan; worthy is the Lamb, indeed!” That, my friends, is an incredible reason to sing Hallelujah—grace stronger than my sin, grace stronger, even, than my will.
Jesus, I pray that you would help me daily to remember your grace on my life. Help me to remember daily how you plucked me out of the darkness and brought me into your kingdom. Jesus, help me to respond to your grace in Holy Spirit powered gratitude and sanctification. Jesus, for your glory, keep us from idols.
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