Who Am I?...the Wayfarer 9/8/16

Who Am I?
9/8/16

Psalm 8

King James Version (KJV)

8 O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

² Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

³ When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

⁴ What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

⁵ For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

⁶ Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

⁷ All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

⁸ The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

⁹ O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

Who is man that God is mindful of him, and among men who am I that God should have consideration and care for me?

These are seldom asked questions by a creature that remains centered on self, whose opinion of self too often exceeds the opinion held of God, his Creator.

Even Job, that shining example of patience and humility came to a point whereat he questioned God, disregarding his place within that creation, receiving as answer to that question the questions that should have been asked by him.

Job 38:1-4

King James Version (KJV)

38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,

² Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

³ Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.

⁴ Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

Those questions continued from that fourth verse of the 28^th chapter of Job through the 34^th verse of the 41^st chapter.

To perceive who we are, we must first perceive who HE is, and that perception must be one that grasps the agape love with which man was created, and the love with which he is endowed by God.

Proof of that love has been given since the beginning, since the very creation of the creature that too often has failed to comprehend that love, choosing to place his own love more in self than in God and in those of his own kind for which it was intended.

That love remains a parental love, parental consideration, parental guidance, parental care, constantly taking the long view of what is best for the creation in mind, though not understood by the childish creation that often forgets that care, rebels against what is preplanned for his good, reveling in that rebellion and his own ability and perception rather than in the comprehension of who God is, and who he himself is.

Jeremiah 29:11

King James Version (KJV)

¹¹ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

That expected end remains the original intent of our God, despite the rebelliousness that began with Adam, and remains still in the hearts, minds, and souls of his progeny.

Until comprehension is given to place, until submission is given to purpose, there can be no reconciliation between Adam’s progeny and their creator.

Asking the question used as title today is the beginning of that comprehension.

Who Am I?

When I think of how He came so far from glory
Came to dwell among the lowly such as I
To suffer shame and such disgrace
On Mount Calvary take my place
Then I ask myself this question
Who am I?

Who am I that The King would bleed and die for
Who am I that He would pray not my will, Thy Lord
The answer I may never know
Why He ever loved me so
But to that old rugged cross He'd go
For who am I?

When I'm reminded of His words
I'll leave Him never
If you'll be true I'll give to you life forever
Oh I wonder what I could have done
To deserve God's only Son
To fight my battles until they're won
For who am I?

Who am I that The King would bleed and die for
Who am I that He would pray not my will, Thy Lord
The answer I may never know
Why He ever loved me so
But to that old rugged cross He'd go
For who am I?
But to an old rugged cross He'd go for, who am I?

Songwriters: RUSTY GOODMAN

To achieve that comprehension requires relinquishment of the importance of man in his own eyes, and the abandonment of his own ways for the acceptance of what was intended from the beginning, and proven through the provision of grace given by the sacrifice of Christ Jesus, an incomprehensible sacrifice made only through that very love for this puny creation by its Creator.

John 3:13-21King James Version (KJV)

¹³ And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

¹⁵ That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

¹⁷ For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

¹⁸ He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

¹⁹ And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

²⁰ For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

²¹ But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Acknowledgement of who we are begins with acknowledgement of who He is, and what He has done, and our own childish inability to accomplish anything on our own without the help of the grace extended by that loving Creator.

Ephesians 2:8-10

King James Version (KJV)

⁸ For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

⁹ Not of works, lest any man should boast.

¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Who am I? Naught but a child, able to grow only through faith in the hand that is much larger than my own which guides me, and in the love given by the Owner of that hand, Whose love has been proven on the Cross, Whose power has been proven through the resurrection, Whose abilities exceed those of men and angels alike, both His creation!

It is not who I am that matters, but Who He is, not what I have done, may do or can do, but what he has done and continues to do.

The answer to the question of why He cares so much is simply that He does, and does for all that are His.

A better question might be why so many refuse to accept that love freely given and refuse to ask the question asked by the title.

My identity is no longer in question, I am a child of that King who chose to love me before my birth.

I now would ask another question of my own, one that requires response from each, the same question asked of Job:  “Who are you?”

Amen and Amen 

2 Timothy 1:12 King James Version (KJV)

¹² For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

the Wayfarer