Wonderful Lord wonderful God
You are my shield my protector
I can lie down go off to sleep
Knowing you’re watching over me
Musing on the Doug Horley children’s song… a song that speaks simply of God as a shield, one who gives security.
Any image of God is incomplete… this morning I was musing on Jesus saying that he was water for the thirsty, bread for the hungry, light for those in darkness…
I was brought up with the old John Newton hymn ‘How sweet the name of Jesus sounds’ with the lines: ‘Jesus my shepherd, saviour, friend, my prophet, priest and king.’
All different pictures that help my understanding…
I’ve enjoyed reading ‘Woven’ by Joel McKerrow. He tells the story of a friend whose favourite time of the week was washing his car alongside his little boy… but the car was often left dirtier, and the job took twice as long.
The boy said: ‘Look at me, Dad! Look how amazing I am at washing the car!’. The friend would say: ‘I wouldn’t have it any other way.’
‘The point was not that the car became ultra-clean but that they got to do this together. The mess was not important. It was just father and son and that is what mattered.’
I identify with McKerrow who says that his own efforts are ‘…nothing more than a little boy with a dirty sponge muddying a car while looking up and saying, ‘Look at me God! Look at what a great job I’m doing!’
‘And the truly beautiful thing is that I hear the Divine saying back: ‘I wouldn’t have it any other way, son. I wouldn’t have it any other way.’
It’s this picture of my Father-God this morning that enables me to sing with Doug Horley:
Wonderful Lord wonderful God
Help me to trust you forever
I need not fear cause you I near
I can lie down and sleep in peace
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