Amazing Grace

"So when the pilgrim was fully inside, Good-will asked him,
“Who directed you to come this way?”
CHRISTIAN: Evangelist exhorted me to come this way and
knock at the Gate, just as I did. He further told me that you, sir,
would tell me what I must do next.
GOOD-WILL: An open door is set before you, and no man can
shut it.
CHRISTIAN: Now I begin to reap the benefits of my hazards.
GOOD-WILL: But how is it that you have come alone?
CHRISTIAN: Because none of my neighbors saw their danger as
I saw mine." John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress

I remember a warm Summer day. I was sitting by a pool and two guys about my age came up and began a conversation. I don't remember exactly what they said, but I remember they were trying to warn me of pending doom if I didn't change my way. I also remember I didn't understand what they were saying.It was like they were speaking a foreign language. I was blind and deaf to what they had to say.

I remember another time. I was now in West Germany in the Air Force. I man that worked with me had need of a ride to work. My two roommates and I obliged. I remember him talking about what God was doing in his life. I argued with him every day. I was still blind and deaf.

John Newton was born in London July 24, 1725, he was a son of a merchant ship commander. At eleven, he went to sea with his father. In 1744 John was on the H. M. S. Harwich. Finding conditions on board intolerable, he deserted but was soon recaptured and publicly flogged and demoted from midshipman to common seaman. Finally at his own request he was exchanged into service on a slave ship, which took him to the coast of Sierra Leone. Newton ultimately became captain of his own slave ship.


Although he had had some early religious instruction from his mother, who had died when he was a child, he had long since given up any religious convictions. However, on a homeward voyage, while he was attempting to steer the ship through a violent storm, he experienced what he was to refer to later as his “great deliverance.” He recorded in his journal that when all seemed lost and the ship would surely sink, he exclaimed, “Lord, have mercy upon us.” Later in his cabin he reflected on what he had said and began to believe that God had addressed him through the storm and that grace had begun to work in him. He later commented that during his time on the sea,he was blind and deaf.

What does that mean? I certainly wasn't physically blind nor deaf. What I wasn't capable of doing was comprehending anything of God. I went to church and followed it's precepts, but I could not hear anything of true spiritual value to my soul. It was only when Holy Spirit opened my spiritual eyes and ears, I was able to hear what God was saying to me. This was great grace! I think John Newton said it better.

"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.

T'was Grace that taught...

my heart to fear.

And Grace, my fears relieved.

How precious did that Grace appear...

the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares...

we have already come.

T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...

and Grace will lead us home.

The Lord has promised good to me...

His word my hope secures.

He will my shield and portion be...

as long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,

and mortal life shall cease, 

I shall possess within the veil, 

a life of joy and peace.

When we've been here ten thousand years...

bright shining as the sun.

We've no less days to sing God's praise...

then when we've first begun.

"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.