Photo by Peter Griffin
(I give permission for anyone to copy any of my posts.)
In
these dark days, we need encouragement, hope and peace. God will give that to
us in many ways. One way is asking him for them, another is listening to
uplifting music. Somehow music feeds our soul. Like everything else on earth it
can feed our souls for good or evil. The last few years, I have found music
lifts my heart up to the heavens. The earth seems to fade away.
Below
I have printed the lyrics to a song that comforts me. This artist sings some of
the most beautiful words I have heard in music. I hope you look him up and give
his music a try.
Always
Good.
Written
and sung by Andrew Peterson
Do
You remember how Mary was grieving?
How You wept and she fell at Your feet?
If it's true that You know what I'm feeling
Could it be that You're weeping with me?
Arise, O Lord, and save me
There's nowhere else to go
You're always good, always good
Somehow this sorrow is shaping my heart
Like it should
And You're always good, always good
It's so hard to know what You're doing
So why won't You tell it all plain?
But You said You'd come back on the third day
And Peter missed it again and again
So maybe the answer surrounds us
And we don't have eyes to see
You're always good, always good
This heartache is moving me closer than joy ever
could
And You're always good
My God, my God, be near me
There's nowhere else to go
And Lord, if You can hear me
Please help Your child to know
That You're always good, always good
As we try to believe what is not meant
To be understood
Will You help us to trust Your intentions for us
are still good?
'Cause You laid down Your life and You suffered
like I never could
And
You're always good, always good
You're always good, always good
We Christians should never forget what
happened to the followers of Jesus right after he went to heaven. There was
death, imprisonment and persecution. Many Jews were thrown out of their church,
excommunicated. This meant no one could trade with them or talk with them. They
lost everything for Jesus. That is why the believers needed to share among
themselves. The need was very great.
Remember what happened when Rome turned
against Christianity. They tortured and killed thousands. Remember the
suffering of the Holocaust. Not only Jews, but Christians, gays, mentally
disabled and those who resisted Hitler were wiped out. Remember the suffering
of the war itself. I had an uncle who died who left a wife and two daughters
behind.
It seems to me that we, North
Americans, are surprised by suffering. We don’t seem to think we should have to
suffer anything. Even the wearing of a simple mask in order to not spread an
illness to others. No, we think that is too much to ask. It is a sacrifice we
aren’t willing to make.
Many believe there is no virus. It is
all untrue! So that means every news service in all the world is lying about
all the people who are suffering and dying. There is some vast (worldwide) conspiracy
against – who? Them personally, I guess.
To me, these are the scary people of
the world. These are the ones who will persecute others to the death – like the
ones who go surround government officials with weapons and send death threats.
If they can, they will overthrow the democracy of the United States and keep
Trump in power.
We are in our own era now, with our own
wars against a virus, against ignorance and against pure evil. We don’t need to
fear though, because God will walk through this time with us. He may let us
suffer as he has done for millions in the past. We may lose our lives to
violence by the hand of evil people.
But as the song says, Jesus did too.
And his death was much worse than any that can happen to a human, because he
had the sins of the world on his heart and his Father turned away from him. The
Father did this so Jesus could experience the second death: knowing we will be separated
from God forever because of our sinful lives. At the judgement, God will show
us our sinful lives and why he can’t take us to heaven. Then we will die and be
dead forever. Jesus went through that to take our place if we want him to. He endured
it so we don’t have to, and he endured it for every person.
