By He Reads Truth
Newly married and setting up house with his young bride, Haldor Lillenas wondered how he was going to provide for his family after barely pulling together enough money to finish building their home. Music composition was his passion, but he didn’t have a piano in his tiny new abode.
When a neighbor offered a dusty organ with cracked leather and stiffened stops for the price of five dollars, Haldor eagerly bought the wheezy organ and set about composing. As he settled into family life, he wrote many songs on that first, imperfect instrument.
One of the early compositions Haldor wrote on that five-dollar organ was “Wonderful Grace of Jesus,” which he, in turn, sold for five dollars (Brown 117). This small investment helped him write more songs, better songs—over 4,000 hymns in his lifetime—and he went on to found his own music publishing company.
“Wonderful Grace of Jesus” is a triumphant song about the abundant grace of Christ (1 Timothy 1:14), one that is deeper than the sea and higher than the mountains. It is a beautiful picture of God’s mighty grace in our times of want and His generous mercy in seasons of blessing.
Wonderful Grace of Jesus
Haldor Lillenas
Wonderful grace of Jesus,
Greater than all my sin;
How shall my tongue describe it,
Where shall its praise begin?
Taking away my burden,
Setting my spirit free;
For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.
Refrain:
Wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus,
Deeper than the mighty rolling sea;
Higher than the mountain, sparkling like a fountain,
All-sufficient grace for even me!
Broader than the scope of my transgressions,
Greater far than all my sin and shame;
Oh, magnify the precious Name of Jesus,
Praise His Name!
Wonderful grace of Jesus,
Reaching to all the lost,
By it I have been pardoned,
Saved to the uttermost;
Chains have been torn asunder,
Giving me liberty;
For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.
Wonderful grace of Jesus,
Reaching the most defiled,
By its transforming power,
Making him God’s dear child,
Purchasing peace and heaven
For all eternity—
And the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.
Brown, Robert, and Mark R. Norton. The One Year Great Songs of Faith. Tyndale House Publishers, 2005.
34 thoughts on "Wonderful Grace of Jesus"
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Jordan Serio says:
Wow, Jesus is a careless lover.
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James Kvas says:
4,000 hymns that started with his old organ is a lot. Reading through these passages and examining the life of Paul is a great reminder to the grace that Christ gives to all of us. Taking an enormous sinner like Paul who persecuted many Christians in his early life and making him clean through the mercy and grace shown to him. It is also interesting to see how Paul is humble in the fact that he admits to being the foremost of all sinners, and knows that he needs the grace that God offers for than anyone else. How often do I admit that I’m am the biggest sinner I know instead of comparing my sins to others?
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Tony says:
Grace, what have you done?
Such a beautiful concept that just as much we’ve taken advantage of. Grace is the enablement to do what our flesh chose not to do before. Because we were born into and live in sin, our “auto-pilot” nature says to do certain things. But God gives us grace so that we can let the spirit and the nature of God work inside of us even more.
The more we say “Yes” to God, the more we can say “No” to what our standard worldly nature says to us. That’s what grace truly is.
Grace is never the enablement to sin. It’s the empowerment to do what’s right.
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Ryan says:
Wow, this is so great, I love knowing the history. I wish people these days would realize hymns came out of the heart of people who God gave words and music to, just as well as the likes of Bethel, Tonkin and others.
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Benjamin McKnight says:
I thought it a rather straightforward and surface level hymn at first, but really thinking about the implications of the line [His wonderful grace is] “reaching the most defiled” resonates with a guilty heart and one that lacks purpose or reason to get out of bed or for lack of a better term, a lazy ass, just because I can be and I have nothing better to do, but the grace of God can not only set me free from guilt. But also give me purpose.
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Ben says:
I, as a born sinner, do not deserve anything other than death. Jesus comes in and gives me grace. An undeserved grace. He could disown me for all the wrong I’ve done and all the times I have single handedly strayed people away from His kingdom by not following what I know to be right. When I’m with friends and there is alcohol or the language we use or the content of our conversations. There are many times I stumble and God gives me this grace.
I don’t discount this and say ” well if the grace will always be given, then I’ll just keep doing me and fingers crossed hope for the best..”
I want to change the way I am because of the grace that is given. I like to think of it like an opportunity for me to change the way I am. The intention behind our actions means everything. We aren’t living the “right way” or doing the “right thing” because there is a since of quid pro quo; Jesus did this for me now I have to do my due diligence and return the favor. We look at the grace as an opportunity for change. We don’t have to change, but we should want to change because of the grace shown to us. -
Caleb says:
God’s grace is so good. There is nothing in this world that is able to save me from the destructive life that I am so easily swayed by except for God’s grace. Instead of allowing us to die in our sins and be forever in torment, God sent Jesus to right the wrong we caused. I am so thankful for that. I’ve lived a life where I didn’t want God first in it and it was tremendously destructive and lonely and it left me empty. But as soon as I came back to God, those feelings changed. Even if it didn’t change my circumstance right away, it changed my perspective and I started to realize that the circumstance I was in wasn’t what I wanted and God helped me out of it and gave me hope.
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Dustin says:
It’s easy to think that my sin is great and there’s no way Jesus could truly forgive me. Or I can believe that I’m forgiven, but somehow God’s grace doesn’t fully cover it. It’s all a lie. The Lord’s grace and mercy are far greater than I can imagine. I have to remind myself daily that His love abounds and covers my sins. Jesus took my sin to the cross and paid the price for me. In my guilt, it’s easy to hold onto things and punish myself. But Jesus took the punishment so that I can go free.
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Cooper says:
The Grace of Jesus is so truly magnificent, it guides us, it protects us, it washes us clean and makes us new. The Grace of Jesus saves man and lifts him from his sins and the Grace of Jesus is one that life truly can’t go on without. For the by the Grace of Jesus those who believe in him have everlasting eternal life.
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Vinicius Marques says:
The wonderful grace of Jesus. When it reaches te make deified and the lost, it reached me. That was me. How can I thank him for reaching me? Sometimes we just have to shout out “PRAISE HIS NAME”
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Jordan Hobbs says:
I feel no grace, no love, no peace
My heart it breaks and silence screams
I fear, I doubt, but I still believe
If only I could see
I feel lost, worthless, and without hope
I feel I’m falling down a slippery slope
I have anger, angst and no way to cope
If only I could knowIf only I could know you more
If only I could know you now
If only I could know you Lord
In this season of tiresome doubt (2X)I feel like heaven is closed to my entrance
I feel like hell is my closest friend
I’ve run away from my love with my mistress
My love whom I promised my love to the end
I feel like this world is dark and cold
Now I have no one to hold
I’ve been enslaved, to many been sold
If only I could knowIf only I could know you more
If only I could know you now
If only I could know you Lord
In this season of tiresome doubt (2X) -
Spencer Dabbs says:
I attend NewSpring Church in SC (we have many campuses only in SC) and In my youth group [FUSE] this past Wednesday we started a new 4-5 week series called “Growth” and the start of it was that God will up root us and place us where we need to be in order for us to grow, He places us beside the still waters so we can get some water (His Word) in our roots (our hearts), but in this it said that the planting season is the spring, it’s May right now, it’s spring, then the growing season is the summer, (next month), so after God moves us to be planted and after He works in our lives, we grow, then after we have went through the those seasons, God then let’s us go through the seasons of blessings.
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Josh W says:
The story behind the hymn is like a snapshot into my life. Despite trials and hardships, God providing just what I need when I need it. Even if God never did anything else for me and my life was horrible, He’s already done more than could even deserve just by sending His son Jesus as sacrifice for my sins. His grace is wonderful and matchless… deeper and higher than I could ever imagine and more sufficient than all else. Thank you God for your grace in my life, and for drawing me to you in spite of all my failures.
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Brett F says:
Jesus, thank you for your grace and saving me, a sinner. How I need you every day.
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