Amazed

Amazed! That was the conclusion of Charles Gabriel as he thought about all he owed to Jesus.

Growing up on his family’s farm in eastern Iowa, Charles joined his family and neighbors for times of worship and fellowship. Born on this day in 1856, he was a natural talent, often leading the singing in their home services, even when he was just a teenager.

He taught himself to play the family’s organ and began writing songs. He once told his mother he wanted to write a song that would bring him fame. She urged him, instead, to focus on writing music that would help others.

Charles would go on to write more than 8,000 hymns. Perhaps none of them would reveal his deepest feelings more than a hymn he wrote in 1905, called “I Stand Amazed.”

He expressed how overwhelmed he was at the love Jesus: “O how marvelous! O how wonderful!” This would his song throughout his life.

He pictured himself standing before Jesus. Conscious of his own weaknesses, he wondered how Jesus “could love me, a sinner, condemned, unclean.” He could picture Jesus praying in the garden not just for the world but for him, personally: He prayed, “Not My will, but Thine. He had no tears for His own griefs, but sweat drops of blood for mine.”

He realized how Jesus had come to take away his sins: “He made them His very own; He bore the burden to Calvary, and suffered and died alone.” Charles looked forward to joining other believers in glory when “His face I at last shall see.” It would be his “joy through the ages to sing of His love for me.”

Today, think how much Jesus loves you! How overwhelming! How amazing!