Long Have I Pondered the cross....
Long Have I Pondered
Long have I pondered the pain of the cross:
Wood soaked in blood, washed with tears,
drenched in sweat.
Whips, cruel nails, crown of thorns, countless cost:
Somehow this death is both promise and threat.
Cascades of suff’ring and love shrink my pride:
Silent I’m hushed by his spear-riven side.
Long have I pondered the shame of the cross:
Jeered by the troops, by authorities scorned.
Mocked by a brigand, society’s dross —
Christ is abandoned, rejected, ignored.
How can I focus on triumphs and things?
Here writhes my Maker, Redeemer and King.
Long have I pondered the curse of the cross:
Sinless, the Christ bears my guilt and my pain.
Thundering silence, a measureless cost —
God in his heaven lets Christ cry in vain.
Now I can glimpse sin's bleak horror, and worse:
Christ dies and bears the unbearable curse.
Long have I pondered the Christ of the cross:
Gone is the boasting when I’m next to him.
Loving the rebel, redeeming the lost,
Jesus’ pure goodness exposes my sin.
Self is cut down by this triumph of grace:
Christ’s bloody cross is the hope of our race.
Lyrics by D.A. Carson, Music by Mark Hopper
Copyright 1999 Christway Media, Inc.
Long have I pondered the pain of the cross:
Wood soaked in blood, washed with tears,
drenched in sweat.
Whips, cruel nails, crown of thorns, countless cost:
Somehow this death is both promise and threat.
Cascades of suff’ring and love shrink my pride:
Silent I’m hushed by his spear-riven side.
Long have I pondered the shame of the cross:
Jeered by the troops, by authorities scorned.
Mocked by a brigand, society’s dross —
Christ is abandoned, rejected, ignored.
How can I focus on triumphs and things?
Here writhes my Maker, Redeemer and King.
Long have I pondered the curse of the cross:
Sinless, the Christ bears my guilt and my pain.
Thundering silence, a measureless cost —
God in his heaven lets Christ cry in vain.
Now I can glimpse sin's bleak horror, and worse:
Christ dies and bears the unbearable curse.
Long have I pondered the Christ of the cross:
Gone is the boasting when I’m next to him.
Loving the rebel, redeeming the lost,
Jesus’ pure goodness exposes my sin.
Self is cut down by this triumph of grace:
Christ’s bloody cross is the hope of our race.
Lyrics by D.A. Carson, Music by Mark Hopper
Copyright 1999 Christway Media, Inc.
