“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me….I once was lost but now am found, Was blind, but now, I see.”

Amazing Grace is a hymn written by John Newton, who penned the words from his personal experiences. Although raised to follow God, he lived contrary to everything he was taught. In fact, he had become quite a vile person and even denounced God and everything he had ever been taught about Him. During a terrible storm at sea, God began to work on his heart. As he came to the end of himself, he contemplated the grace of God. He wondered whether he was even worthy of His mercy. The rest of the story is history, as Amazing Grace was born from that experience.

When a person comes to the end of themselves, there is nothing left, nowhere else to go. It is often from that place that a person is in the best position to hear God. Pride keeps us from going there. Self-preservation doesn’t want anyone else on the throne of our lives. Letting go of control has been described by some as similar to Humpty Dumpty, in that if they let go of control, they’d fall off the wall and never be put back together again. Afraid to venture into the unknown, they stay in what they know. But as John Newton realized, the grace of God is all forgiving and free. Not only is it free, but it’s also transforming.

There’s an old song that talks about doing things our way. John Newton found that his way wasn’t working. In fact, instead of a fulfilled life, in the quiet moments of his soul, he admitted he was miserable. Life is like that. We can put on a good front and fool a lot of people, but in the quiet moments of our soul, it can be quite a different story. The problem is, we don’t want to go there. In that quiet place in our soul, we don’t want to hear the truth. Maybe we’re just not ready to hear it. Many of us don’t want to go there. Do you? Think about it.