How Can It Be, Lord?!

Another song whose lyrics have taken over my mind more than once lately is sung by Lauren Daigle.  She talks on YouTube about the origin of the “How Can It Be” song.  It was written from the perspective of the woman in the Bible who was caught in the middle of adultery.  As this woman was about to be stoned by a group of people from her community, who shows up to save her but Jesus himself.  Jesus saves her in more ways than one.  He does not condemn her at all but tells her quite simply to go and sin no more.  How can it be?  I cannot think of a more perfect title to a song written about this woman.

“My hands are dirty.  I dare not lift them up to the holy One.”  But I do.  I lift them up and I worship  whenever I feel like it.   And yes, they are dirty–at least they are to anyone who knows me down here.  But, to God they’re clean.  God sees me now just as he sees Christ–unblemished.  How can it be?  It’s hard to fathom sometimes, lots of times.  Right now today, for instance, I find myself full of thoughts and feelings of which I’m anything but proud.  Yet, he hasn’t turned away from me.  How can it be?

The power of the cross of Christ is mind-blowing.  One selfless, agonizing act really did wipe away my soul’s every stain–past, present, and future.  Yes, Jesus is how it can be.  He is the only way it can be.  He is the only reason it can be.  On this New Year’s Eve, as I sit here rather disappointed in the state of my internal affairs, I too must do what that woman of old did when she was confronted by the Light–I too must lean in and let it, let Him, envelope me.  He is our security blanket, our hiding place, the Ultimate Hiding Place.  And I must continue to allow myself to be amazed by that, to be amazed by him, while down here in the middle of the most mundane of temptations.  How can it be?  Jesus the Christ of God is how.