Sunday, June 28, 2009

Just When Nothing at All Seemed to Make Sense

Does God only bring good things... out of some of our suffering? Or does God have good purposes... He brings out of all suffering?

What about the really horrible things? What about the things that just... don't... seem... to make sense?

This last year and a half of tears, has brought that question out in me a lot. Have you ever asked yourself that? "Does God have a reason, for absolutely each... and every pain... we endure?"

The answer is yes! God has planned in advance, purpose… that is GOOD, to bring out of every hardship we go through. In a previous post, I wrote to God:
“I know that out of my tough circumstances,
You will bring good out of it,
for You, me, and for others.
You made the UNIVERSE out of nothing.
So, You have the power to make good works out of what I have lost,
and what is no more.
You brought so MUCH good, out of the agony You took on at the cross.
So, You have the power to use how I am broken,
to bring good out of it for You, me and others.
You even have the power to use my sin,
as well as how I suffer from wrong choices,
so that people can come to know You.”
God loves both those who know Him, and those who don’t. God loves ALL people. This is a God, who’s love, dwarfs the size of the love, all humankind has ever felt, towards anyone and anything, combined! God dwarfs the universe! He is powerful enough to do all things. He made all things! In all His love, and in all His power, He will not restrain, in carrying out good things for us! He will do this through every one of our struggles, delights, and even each seemingly boring and pointless moment. Because He loves us enough to want to… and He is able to do what His love wants to do for us.

My last post, “A Song for Sunset Church,” addresses the question “Why would a GOOD God let BAD things happen?” The song below, on this post, deals with the question “Does God have a purpose for all our troubled times? …What about the things that just… don’t… make sense?”

The song below, is a song I have been working on, since Christmas. The song is about a concept, that my mother mentioned to me, around that time. The concept in this song, has been continuing to give me hope... and has been changing the way I think.

This song is sung a cappella. It is either sung by women and men, or only men. There are pros and cons about both options, but it is simple to change what key it is written in.

It is not a choral piece... it's sung one person per part. (Though I haven't counted how many parts there are yet. I can hear the harmonies and background in my head, but it varies how many people are singing, at different points of the song.)

Towards the end of the song, deep base drums will be added in, so it will not be truly a cappella at that point. ;)

Jesus is God, and has always existed. But He chose to come to Earth, in the form of a human baby. Jesus chose a person named Mary, to be His earthly mother, and give birth to Him.

The song begins, just after Jesus had been killed on the cross, and shortly before He came back to life. The song starts, just after Jesus had been taken off the cross and layed in His mother, Mary's, arms.


Meant to Save the World
***
Still.
***
Hushed.
***
Dead.
***
Crushed.
***
Lying limp
in His mother's arms.
***
***
***
Mary
***
seething
***
the sobs of
***
a mother.
***
She cries out
"Why?"
***
***
***
Nothing at all
***
seemed
***
to make
***
sense.
***
She
remembers.
***
She remembers the angel that met with her.
and the words the angel said.
She remembers the great multitude of angels
the shepherds told her of.
She remembers the miracle of virgin birth.
She remembers the blazing star
in the midnight sky
that led the wise men to her child,
bringing gold and other gifts of worth.
Oh, she
remembers
her son had walked on water!
Oh, she
remembers
her son had healed the blind!
Her son had healed the blind!
Her son proclaimed the truth!
Oh, she
remembers
He'd turned water into wine!
He'd turned water into wine!
She
remembers
even the sea was stilled
by the words that He had said!
By the words that He had said!
Her son had driven out demons
and raised Lazarus from the dead!
***
Then He's hanging
on
the cross
and just when
her
son
needed her the most
she couldn't wipe away
the tears
He
cried.
***
She remembers
all that He had done.
She wonders
all He would have done
had it not been
her son
who'd died.
***
Nothing made sense.
When nothing made sense.
Just when nothing at all
seemed to make sense.
Nothing made sense.
When nothing made sense.
Nothing made sense.
When nothing made sense.
Just when nothing at all
seemed to make
sense,
***
it was meant to save
***
the world!
***
Lord in all of Your power
Lord in all of Your power
You will pour out good
You will pour out good
through all the things we are suffering through
because You love us enough
because You love us enough
to do all that You
all that You as God
all that You as God are able to do!
***
Lord in all of Your power
Lord in all of Your power
You will pour out good
You will pour out good
through all the things we are suffering through
because You love us enough
because You love us enough
to do all that You
all that You as God
all that You as God are able to do!
***
No heart can comprehend! No!
No dreamer can imagine
all You have done
and will do in secret
through the things we suffer!
***
No eyes have seen! No lips could tell!
No human mind can fathom
all that we have yet to see
that we will get to see
that You will be doing
for the rest of all time
through the things we suffer!
***
No heart can comprehend! No!
No dreamer can imagine!
No eyes have seen! No lips could tell!
No human mind can fathom
all You have done
are doing now
and have yet to do
for forever and ever
and ever and ever
for
the sake of us!
***
And just when nothing at all seemed to make sense
it was meant to save the world!
***
About two thousand years later
Oh I am barely hanging in
there
and I am at
a
loss
of seeing how
You could bring
anything good
through my hangin' on.
***
But as the nails tore
Your
flesh
each time You rose
and
sank
to take
each
breath
***
You were hanging on
there
hanging on
the
cross
and You could see
everything
You would bring
through Your hangin' on.
***
I cry out
"God
oh
God
don't You hear
my cry?"
***
I shake
an angry
fist
asking
"Why
God
why?"
***
With my human eyes
oh how
I
wonder
what purposes
You could bring
out of my broken story.
***
But Your all seeing eyes
saw all the wonders
You saw all the wonders
You would bring out through the cross
You would bring out through the cross
in all Your glory!
***
You were bringing the hope
of freedom
hope of freedom from our stains
hope of freedom from our stains
from the foolish things we do!
You were bringing hope
of Heaven!
Heaven!
You were bringing the hope
of You!
Bringing the hope of You!
***
So when my life is a puzzle
is a puzzle
I remember
that just when nothing at all seemed
to make
sense
it was meant
to save
the world!
***
{deep base drums come in here}
Lord in all of Your power
Lord in all of Your power
You will pour out good
You will pour out good
through all the things we are suffering through
because You love us enough
because You love us enough
to do all that You
all that You as God
all that You as God are able to do!
***
No heart can comprehend! No!
No dreamer can imagine
all You have done
and will do in secret
through the things we suffer!
***
No eyes have seen! No lips could tell!
No human mind can fathom
all that we have yet to see
that we will get to see
that You will be doing
for the rest of all time
through the things we suffer!
***
No heart can comprehend! No!
No dreamer can imagine!
No eyes have seen! No lips could tell!
No human mind can fathom
all You have done
are doing now
and have yet to do
for forever and ever
and ever and ever
for
the sake of us!
***
No heart can comprehend! No!
No dreamer can imagine
all You have done
and will do in secret
through the things we suffer!
***
No eyes have seen! No lips could tell!
No human mind can fathom
all that we have yet to see
that we will get to see
that You will be doing
for the rest of all time
through the things we suffer!
***
{During the next verse, the following two lines are sung once.}
I praise You for Your power
and I praise You for Your love!
***
No heart can comprehend! No!
No dreamer can imagine!
No eyes have seen! No lips could tell!
No human mind can fathom
all You have done
are doing now
and have yet to do
for forever and ever
and ever and ever
for
the sake of us!
Just when nothing at all seemed
to make
sense
***
it was meant to save
***
the world!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

A Song for Sunset Church

We have been watching an interesting story unfold, at our church. For over a year now, at Sunset, there has been an increase in the amount of things and people we care about dying. In the wake of a dying economy, so many people at our church, have been deeply touched by the death of a job, or hour reductions. There are many people, who are experiencing the intense suffering, of their marriages dying. There are those who have experienced the death of their bodies' health in some way. There have been deaths of immediate family members, relatives and friends.

Maybe you are walking through the death of the ability to fulfill a dream. Maybe you know the loss of a friendship that has died or the death of freedom from mental disabilities. Weather you attend Sunset or not, what is it in your life that has died?

In a previous post
"Some Things were Born to Die, that there Might be LIFE!," I wrote to God: "So much has died in my life. You have been using the desperation this has produced, for me to seek to know who You are more, Your character, Your attributes. The more I am discovering and being reminded of about You, the more I am discovering how deep, how endlessly wide, how awesome this LIFE is that is YOU."

God uses death, to draw us closer to Him who is LIFE.

Because of all that has died throughout my lifetime, I struggle with a deep fear of loss. The song
"Lost in All You Are," which I put up on a different post, adds another angle, to the knowledge that God is life. The theme of "Lost in All You Are," is that all that has ever been, is, and will ever be combined... amounts to less than nothing, when it stands before ALL GOD IS. The song highlights, that EVERYTHING God is... is life. Therefor, for those who know the Lord, there is NO fear in the death and loss of what we love. Because even if all that had ever been, is, and will ever be, died and was lost... it would all amount to less than nothing, when compared to ALL GOD IS. And everything God is... is LIFE.

Below is a song. It focuses on the truth, that some things were born to die, so that there would be life. It focuses on the truth, that God is life. All of us have experienced someone, or something we love, die. If you are someone who attends Sunset Church, I wrote this song with you particularly in mind.

We have been watching an interesting story unfold, at our church. God has meant the death we have known, to draw us deeper into Him... who IS life. And we will not be disappointed, because He who is life, overwhelms all else.


That there Would be Life
***
Images of tiny fingers
that never had the chance to reach
to grasp my fingers fast.
To grasp mine fast.
***
What would it have been like
to watch him living?
Never had a chance
to know just who he was.
***
Images of the very first breath
never taken.
Never had the chance
to breathe his last.
***
You
had a plan
that You had from the beginning.
That through all I love
who have died and that has died
some
things
some things were born to die
so that there would be
so that there would be life.
***
Images of robbed innocence
a friend left in the dust
a widow's shaking shoulders
of the wake left behind the lust.
***
Images of the man she loves
running from home
with her quivering heart.
***
Images of a layed off parent
overwhelmed
at all it takes
just tryin' to stay alive.
***
Images of an abandoned daughter
to hurt to wonder
what it would be like
to have
a
father.
***
Images of a broken child
down on his knees
who'd rather take his life
than just tryin' to survive.
***
You
had a plan
that You had from the beginning
that through all I love
who have died and that has died
some
things
some things were born to die
so that there would be
so that there would be life.
***
Some things were born to die
that we would be drawn deeper into You
and You are life
that we would be drawn deeper into life.
***
Because of who You are
You are hope! You are joy! You are peace! You are freedom!
You are life!
***
You are so much more
than all that has died throughout all time!
You overwhelm
all that could ever die!
You are so much more! You are so much more! You overwhelm!
And You are life!
***
You died to draw us nearer to You
and You are life!
You died to draw us nearer to life!
***
Images of You God upon a cross.
You who are life
breathing in Your last.
***
Images of You who believes so deeply
in bringing life through death
that You chose to be born to suffer and die
***
that the whole world would have breath
***
and we would breathe in life at last!
***
Images of a grave with a body gone!
On Easter morning
You rose again!
Now life has spoken!
***
Images of the breaking rays of dawn
when death itself
was broken!
***
You are life
and life has triumphed
over death forever!
You are The One
Who is Mighty to Save
and You
have conquered
the grave!
***
Some things
some things were born to die
so that there would be
so that there would be life!
***
You are life
and when I come to You
I come to life!
***
I come to life!
***
Some things
some things were born to die
so that there would be
so that there would be life!
***
You are life
and when I come to You
I come to life!
***
I come to life!
***
You are life!
I come to You!
I come to life!
***
I come to life!
***
I come to You!
I come to life!
***
I come to life!