Why should I gain from His reward?
How Deep the Father’s Love for Us
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom
The title of this Holy Week series comes from the song above, but the idea of our not deserving the grace of God is a common one in the Bible, including David’s realization of his minuteness in Psalm 8:3–4:
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
Psalm 8:3–4
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
The idea is that we look very small and undeserving when compared with things much greater than us. In the Psalm, it is the size of the universe; in the song it is the glory of the gospel. We can seem pretty good when we compare ourselves with our neighbors and friends, but next to the holiness of God, we are nothing. It is amazing that God is mindful of us, even more that He shares the glory of His victory with His creation.
It is important for us to put human power in perspective with the cross, not only because it humbles us, but because in this humility the grace of God can be seen in its magnificence. We should not gain from His reward, but we do. That is the good news of the gospel.