Our Savior Comes

BY Amanda Bible Williams

This morning I drove past the lake near our house, as I always do. Today the spring sun was especially bright, causing me to squint my eyes as the light poured through my driver’s side window. A dense layer of fog covered the water as far as I could see. Gulls danced in and out of the cloud-like mist, some resting still and peaceful on the glassy surface. The sun, the fog, the gulls, the water—the combination stunned me, caught that deep sigh in my chest and held it there a minute. 

It was the second day in a row the lake looked exactly like this, and both times it brought worship to my lips:

I praise you, Lord, for you are the Creator God, the maker of the water and the birds, the sun and the mist, and the breath in my lungs. You are God, you are Lord, and I give you all of me today. 

There was no analyzing my prayer outline or word choice, no time for false pretense or doubt. I’d seen a glimpse of the glory of the Lord, and immediate, unhindered praise felt like the only possible response.

Spontaneous worship sessions are not new to our Almighty God. Since the making of mankind and the dawn of creation, people and nature have praised Him. On this day recorded in Matthew 21, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, and another chorus of praise erupted: 

Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is he who comes in the name
of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven! (v. 9). 

As Luke’s Gospel tells it, “the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen” (Luke 19:37). Miracles—plural. Many of them. These people who had been following Jesus had seen evidence that this was not just a man. This man was the Son of God. They had seen glimpses of His glory, and it led them to worship.

Luke also records that as Jesus rode on toward the gates of Jerusalem that day—toward the death due every single human but Him—He also wept for its brokenness. He cried for those who did not recognize the Messiah in their midst (Luke 19:44). 

The Savior had come, but they did not know Him.

As we enter Holy Week on this Palm Sunday, may we see Jesus for who He is. May we read with clear eyes and open hearts the Gospel account of these days and events that are the foundation of our faith. And may we worship the One at the center of it all.

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is Jesus, who comes to save us.