📖 Biblical Definition
Wonder is astonishment at what is greater than the observer — and in Scripture it is the disposition proper to creatures contemplating the works and Person of God. The LORD declares Himself "wonderful" in His name ("His name shall be called Wonderful", Isaiah 9:6) and in His works ("Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers", Psalm 78:12). Wonder is the right response: "Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God" (Job 37:14); "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments" (Romans 11:33). Modern Western Christianity has often lost wonder to mere familiarity. Recover it. Stand outside on a clear night and look up.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
WON'DER, n.
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1. That emotion which is excited by novelty, or the presentation to the sight or mind, of something new, unusual, strange, great, extraordinary, or not well understood. 2. Cause of wonder; a strange thing.
📖 Key Scripture
Psalm 77:14 — "Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people."
Isaiah 9:6 — "His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor."
Mark 6:51 — "They were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered."
Revelation 12:1 — "There appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern saturation suppresses wonder; recovering it is an act of repentance against boredom.
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The modern soul is wonder-suppressed. Stimulus-saturated, content-glutted, novelty-numb, the average Western person scrolls past sunsets, ignores starfields, and yawns at human birth and death alike. The Bible diagnoses this not as personality but as spiritual sickness. The Lord made wonder the proper creature-response to His works; the absence of wonder is failure to see God in what He made.
Recovery is partly disciplined. Spend an hour with no screen, watching the same patch of sky. Read Psalm 8 out loud at night. Hold a newborn and consider what just walked into the room from the workshop of God. Read Isaiah 9:6 slowly — Wonderful is one of the names of Christ. The Lord is wonder-shaped at His core. Recovering wonder is recovering Him.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew pele (H6382); Greek thauma (G2295).
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Usage
"Modern saturation suppresses wonder; recovering it is an act of repentance against boredom."
"The absence of wonder is failure to see God in what He made."
"Wonderful is one of the names of Christ; recovering wonder is recovering Him."