Amazement: Part 1

Royal Priesthood, Holy Nation                                          Acts 2:7

Amazement: Part 1

by Robert T. Cooper

Nothing much seems to amaze people any more. Even technological innovations are expected 3 or 4 times each year. We have raised the bar so many times and it is so high that average has become a failure.

Even the word “amazing” has been cheapened, along with “awesome” and a host of other words that used to be superlatives. There simply aren’t any true superlatives left.

So, what is called amazing today? Something having to do with mazes. A reality show, The Amazing Race. Even though the song “Amazing Grace” is still popular, folks no longer contemplate that grace and why it was called amazing all those years ago.

Still the crowd that came from at least 15 nations, and each one heard the 120 speaking in his own language, was amazed, but not by what you might think. They were amazed that those they heard speaking the languages were all Galileans.

You have to understand, Galileans were not the sophisticated city folks of Judea. They were good ol’ boys and girls from the country up north. Why, they may have been Jews but they lived on the far side of where the (pesky) Samaritans lived! Just about everyone in those days could speak Aramaic, Hebrew, Latin, and Koine Greek at a minimum. But the heart languages of people from all those 15 countries? A Judean might have learned one of those languages, but no one could imagine a circumstance in which a Galilean would.

Those foreign visitors on Pentecost didn’t know what we have perhaps learned: God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are. (I Corinthians 1:27 – 28) Amazing!

So don’t look down on those who seem foolish, weak, lowly, despised, or nothing. God is just likely to use those folks to accomplish His purposes.

Please comment on experiences in which God used the foolish, etc., to accomplish His purposes. Personal illustrations are welcome.