Stanley Simpson

In the Garden – Entry #1 of 2

The next song for my Blog was written by C. Austin Miles and first published in 1912. This is a timeless song found in many church hymnals and sung by many great artists. A link to Alan Jackson performing the song is at the bottom of this Blog entry.

In the Garden

I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses

And He walks with me
And He talks with me
And He tells me I am His own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known

He speaks and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing

And He walks with me
And He talks with me
And He tells me I am His own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known

I’d stay in the garden with Him
‘Tho the night around me be falling
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling

And He walks with me
And He talks with me
And He tells me I am His own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known

I will begin the first entry in this Blog by taking a look at the first verse.

I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses

Most of us lead very hectic lives in which we are trying to balance our personal lives, family, demands of our job(s), or perhaps all of these and we become completely overwhelmed. It sometimes feels as if everything is coming down around us. During these challenging times, wouldn’t it be nice to have an escape, at least for a short respite?

Have you ever noticed that one of the most beautiful settings in a flower garden occurs in the early morning? It is at this time that the morning dew is on the roses and other flowering plants and they glisten in the early morning sun. The writer has created such an idyllic setting that symbolizes peace and tranquility. I believe the application in our lives is that we need to have a time of peace and tranquility every day with our Lord and Savior. The place and time is up to each of us and he will be there awaiting our arrival. Our chosen setting may be a closet, a room, a walk, a drive, basically wherever we choose. This special place is our personal Garden and the location and time may change, but it is where we escape to for our one on one time with Jesus. It is a time of inner peace which blocks out everything else in our lives and allows us to focus on our relationship with Jesus. This is the way we should feel as we commune with our Savior. As we open our hearts in this peaceful setting and prepare to pray, we may sense that Christ via the Holy Spirit is with us. Perhaps you sometimes feel so distant from God, but there are other times when you feel Jesus is so close as you pray. The writer in this song has set the perfect setting for prayer and as our hearts are open, Jesus lets us know he is with us. The reality is, he is always there, but we don’t always hear him or see him in action because our hearts are not open to His presence and his comfort, our hearts are more focused on the avalanche of challenges life brings.

Jesus does not join us to just nod his head as we talk to him, he wants to be an active part of our lives. Jesus is only a passive participant if that is all we allow him to be. He wants to walk with us and guide us, he doesn’t want to just follow behind and watch what happens to us; he wants to lead us down the right paths. Via the Holy Spirit and that still small voice, Jesus is talking to us, sharing wisdom, providing guidance, and trying to help us understand the impact of the choices and decisions we make in our lives. Our time in the garden is more than just our conversation with Christ, it is also strengthening our relationship with him. We communicate our blessings, our needs, our praise and he tells us how much he loves us and that everything will eventually be ok. He also reminds us we are never alone in anything we do and we are also a child of his. The more we reach out to him, the more aware we will be of his presence.

Our time in the garden with Jesus should be a time of peace and joy. We are there with the one who loves us more than anyone else possibly can. He is also the one who truly understands every fear and trouble we have and can provide comfort that we never thought possible. Where else can we find such joy? Every time we pray, we need to enter into the arms of Jesus, open our hearts fully to him, and just let him hold us.

Click Here to Watch Alan Jackson Sing In the Garden

Trust in You – Entry #4 of 4

In the Blog entry for today and the final one for this song, I want to take a look at the last verse of this wonderful song:

You are my strength and comfort
You are my steady hand
You are my firm foundation
The rock on which I stand
Your ways are always higher
Your plans are always good
There’s not a place where I’ll go
You’ve not already stood

How often do you have fears in your life and feel you are too weak to address these fears? These fears can be emotional, physical, real, or perceived. There is a good chance we have fears every day of our lives and that we all have times when we feel weak and helpless. Christ is there to give us all of the strength we need and he is the one who is always there to comfort us. Not only to give us the strength to face our fears and our enemies, but he is there for us to lean on. He always stands ready to hold us in his arms, wipe away our tears, and to show us things will really be ok.

We try to stay on track with our faith every day, but it is so hard to do. We keep wandering off of our path and many times we know we are not on the path we should be on. Jesus is always there with his hand reached out to us. His feet are always on the path he has for each of us and he is there to take our hand and guide us or perhaps carry us. He just waits for us to offer our hand to him and ask for his help. It is so awesome that he is always there with his hand extended out to each of us.

We were recently at the beach and had to walk quite a ways to get to the spot where we wanted to set up our umbrellas and chairs. The sand was hot and our feet kept sinking in the sand, so it was hard to get to the spot we wanted; but the walk was worth it! We knew that when we walked on the sand that it would be challenging to get where we are going. Many times we establish our hopes, dreams, and our daily lives on weak foundations that we can’t really depend upon. Maybe the strengths we are counting on are ourselves, our friends, or maybe things we have read or heard. The problem is that none of these are strong enough and dependable enough in the long run. Christ is the only one who can offer us a firm foundation built on solid rock, on bedrock; he will never fail us. We just need to keep our eyes on him at all times.

The path that Jesus wants for us and has planned for us is above the fray of life, above the worries and sins of this world. He wants and asks us to look to him and let him help us across the pitfalls of life that we often create or encounter; he is the only one who stays above it all; yet close enough to always hold our hand and be our guide. He alone knows the plan for our life and we know his plan is perfect. Even though we do not know the twists and turns our lives will take, he knows the path and the destination.

It is so reassuring to know that Christ knows what is ahead and he knows where our steps will lead us today, tomorrow, and for eternity. He knew our path before we were created and he knows what tomorrow brings; does it make sense to trust in anyone else?

Every day, we need to open our hearts in prayer to our Savior and simply say “I will trust in you” for all things.

Trust in You – Entry #3 of 4

In the Blog entry for today, I want to take a look at the next verse:

Truth is, You know what tomorrow brings
There’s not a day ahead You have not seen
So let all things be my life and breath
I want what You want Lord and nothing less

This first line seems to acknowledge that Jesus is the absolute truth and we ultimately have to accept that fact to give our lives to him. He is the constant in our lives and is the only one we can depend upon for our daily and future spiritual needs. We are constantly bombarded with news from social media, electronic media, music, internet, and printed media. We also have our friends and others who want to give us advice and guidance. We probably get some truth from some of these forms of communication, but there are so many conflicting stories. Via all of the media, we can get everyone’s opinion on how to do most anything and how to handle all of the problems in our daily life as well as our future. We have more information available to us today than at any other time in history. As we try to sort out fact from fiction from all of these sources, we just get more confused and frustrated. The bottom line is the only truth that is never failing comes from Christ and he is the only one who knows what tomorrow brings and is the only one who truly understands our needs and has the answers to our issues. He has known us since before we were born and knows every day of our journey, why should be trust in anyone else? He not only knows our path, but is waiting for us at the end of it.

We were given life and breath by our Lord, without him we would not even exist. He formed us from the dust and breathed life into us. The things we have in our lives today are the result of the abilities he gave us. We have definitely not done all of the right things, but it is only because of him that we can do anything. With this in mind, I surmise that the writer is saying we devote our time and energy to focusing on what Jesus wants and asks us to do as opposed to us trying to find our own way. The ultimate reward is one only he can give and we should set our hearts on living for him, nothing else matters. Do we necessarily know every step of that path and do we know the end goal of our earthly lives; no, we do not. I do believe we must ask Jesus for his guidance every day to help us stay on or find our path. Yes, we will deviate from the path since we are not perfect but trusting in him is our only hope for the future he seen for us. There is no place in time he has not been.

When is the last time you tried to shut out all of the distractions and dedicated time to truly pray? I know it is hard for me to take the quiet time and really focus on what Jesus wants us to do. We have so many distractions every moment of everyday, but we need to make time just to chat with our Savior. Yes we need to offer up prayers for others, we need to ask forgiveness for our sins, and we need to tell Jesus how much we love and adore him; but we also need to ask him what he wants from us. Maybe we do not find out the long-term plan, but we need to pray for what he wants us to do right now in our lives. We need his guidance to light our paths every day, if we don’t turn to him for this daily guidance; where will it come from? What are my marching orders for today….

Trust in You – Entry #2 of 4

In the Blog entry for today, I would like to perform a deep dive of the chorus in this song.

When You don’t move the mountains
I’m needing You to move
When You don’t part the waters
I wish I could walk through
When You don’t give the answers
As I cry out to You
I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You

We are told by Jesus that faith can move mountains and I believe that if God wanted to move a physical mountain; he could certainly do it especially since he is the one who created the mountain. In this song, I do not think the writer is referring to a physical mountain. In our lives, the mountains we face are more likely fear, emotion, frustration, desperation, guilt, and loneliness. These are not the mountains created by God, but ones we created by our own actions or actions taken by others; most of these were created by our lack of faith. We do need these mountains removed because they are blocking our way and we don’t see any path around, over, or through the mountain. We know God can move these mountains and we need him to make it happen so we can get on with our lives. Note the writer using the word “When”, which seems to imply we are just waiting on God to make this happen for us.

The song continues by comparing our troubles to the waters that block our path. We probably see these waters as the ocean since we cannot see the other side. The waters were parted for the Israelites and they walked across the dry land where the water was parted, and their enemies disappeared into the water and their escape from bondage was complete. So why not expect God to do the same thing for us? We stand on the shore of the vast ocean of our troubles and just wish he would give us the path to cross and when we get to the other side, our troubles would vanish into the sea. I suppose we are similar to the Israelites in that we just assume our time is over since we have nowhere to go.

The last lament in the chorus is God not giving answers. I often hear people complain that he does not answer their prayers. Maybe we have prayed for something over and over for years and still do not believe we see any results. Is he still listening to us? Why has he forgotten us? Too many times we pray and we also tell God what we want the answer to be. We do not know and understand his plan for us or others; he will answer the prayer in his timing and in accordance with his plan. We know he has an eternal home for us, but he also has a plan for us. He does have answers for us, but maybe the answers are not always heard since they may not be what we wanted to hear, maybe there are more lessons to be learned before the answer is given, or maybe we are asking for our will to be done as opposed to his will being done. This is what trust is all about, it is knowing he will answer.

The end of the chorus is the key to our faith; having mountains moved, having waters parted, and having our prayers answered. We finally reach a point where we come to our knees and realize we must put our complete faith in God, we realize we just can’t do it without him. We don’t merely ask for help, we cry out for help and we put our faith in the hands of God and in his plans for us. I love the fact that the phrase “I will trust” is repeated three times, this is what we need every day.

Trust in You – Entry #1 of 4

The next song for my Blog was written by Lauren Daigle, Michael Farren, and Paul Mabury and first released in 2015. A link to Lauren Daigle performing the song is at the bottom of this Blog entry.

Trust In You

Letting go of every single dream
I lay each one down at Your feet
Every moment of my wandering
Never changes what You see
I try to win this war
I confess, my hands are weary, I need Your rest
Mighty warrior, king of the fight
No matter what I face You’re by my side
When You don’t move the mountains
I’m needing You to move
When You don’t part the waters
I wish I could walk through
When You don’t give the answers
As I cry out to You
I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You
Truth is, You know what tomorrow brings
There’s not a day ahead You have not seen
So let all things be my life and breath
I want what You want Lord and nothing less
When You don’t move the mountains
I’m needing You to move
When You don’t part the waters
I wish I could walk through
When You don’t give the answers
As I cry out to You
I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You
I will trust in You
You are my strength and comfort
You are my steady hand
You are my firm foundation
The rock on which I stand
Your ways are always higher
Your plans are always good
There’s not a place where I’ll go
You’ve not already stood
When You don’t move the mountains
I’m needing You to move
When You don’t part the waters
I wish I could walk through
When You don’t give the answers
As I cry out to You
I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You
I will trust in You
I will trust in You
I will trust in You

I will begin the first entry in this Blog by analyzing the following section of the song.

Quite a step is being taken in the first line of this song. We all have dreams for our future and some of these dreams we may have had for a long time. Maybe these dreams are about families, jobs, houses, vehicles, friends, travel, sports, singing, or even changing the world. We work hard to fulfill our dreams and what we may believe to be our destiny. When I stop and think about that line, I think wow; can I really do this? Can I really give up and let go of my dreams? This is what keeps me going many days, I need a target to march towards in my life.

I don’t think the writers are suggesting we forget our dreams or walk away from our cherished aspirations, I interpret it as putting all of these in the hands of Jesus. It is hard to let go of some things, because we sometimes feel we are the only ones who can control the situation. The problem is that we only think we are in control. We need to give everything to Jesus since he is the only one who knows and controls the future. Jesus says to give our burdens to him and our dreams are somewhat of a burden if you think about it.

Everyday we push ourselves and carry the burden of our dreams and goals, but there are many days when we wonder if we can ever be where we want to be in our lives. We may have different jobs, we may have dysfunctional families, that house may be too expensive; so our dreams and our paths to those dreams get altered along the way. Sometimes it almost feels as if we are wandering aimlessly down an unknown path as we encounter one roadblock after another. We know the path we want to take to fulfill our dreams, but Jesus knows the path we need to take and what we will accomplish.

We fight our battles every day, we face the struggles of life in an ever changing never stopping world. We try to be strong for ourselves and for those who depend on us, but too many times we just get weary from the fight. We now confess that we just can’t do this anymore. It is at this point, that we finally allow Jesus to take our burdens. He is the mighty king who can conquer anybody and anything. He is the one who rose from the dead, the one who took away our sins, and the one who has prepared an eternal home for us. He has never been and never will be defeated, he alone is omnipotent. He is the warrior we need to fight and win our battles for us and is always right beside us waiting for us to let him take control of our lives so our earthly battles can be won.

Click Here to See Lauren Daigle Performing Trust In You

Redeemed – Entry #4 of 4

This is the last Blog entry for this song and I will start a new song with my next entry. Here are the lines to be covered to wrap up this song:

Because I don’t have to be the old man inside of me
‘Cause his day is long dead and gone
Because I’ve got a new name, a new life I’m not the same
And a hope that will carry me home
Chorus
Chorus
Oh God I’m not who I used to be
Jesus I’m not who I used to be
‘Cause I am redeemed
Thank God, redeemed

As humans we, with the exception of Adam and Eve, were all born with a sinful nature, which is also referred to as the old man(person) inside of us. This sinful nature has a tendency to make us think in a more selfish manner, perhaps because we do not know what the future brings. While letting this tendency control us, we are focused more on the here and now because we do not have the hope for or the knowledge of an eternal life. Once we accept Christ as our savior, we do know what ultimately lies ahead for us. We may not know what tomorrow or the next day may bring, but we do know what eternity brings,

Christ left us with the Holy Spirit to help guide us and comfort us. Will we still sin and lose our way at times? Most certainly. We no longer let the old inner self drive our lives and that was the only driver we had until we gained salvation. We have a better understanding of right and wrong, what is expected of us in our lives, what eternity holds for us; and the old inner self is no longer in control of our destiny.

We all get a new name. I am no longer just Stan Simpson, I am now a Child of God and have an eternal plan laid out for me. I am a new person with a new focus and also know that as I get off the path God has chosen for me that I will hear that still small voice reminding me of where I am and where I need to be. As a Christian, I am never alone and always have a companion in my heart and in my walk that will help guide me along the way.

We are given hope knowing that whatever challenges we face in this life; we know we have an eternal home that has been prepared for us. We will still experience frustrations, heartbreaks, rejection, and failures; but we know now what really lies ahead for us. Keeping our eyes on our future home and the gift of eternal life will help us through the travails. The journey is not going to be easy for any of us and it will be more difficult for some, but the rewards are great and are waiting for us.

We need to thank Jesus everyday for what he has done for us, the peace he brings, and the new home that is just waiting for us. It is because of his death giving us redemption, that all of this is possible. He took away all of our sins and past mistakes, and just asks for our acceptance and love. We can’t run from our past and we will probably not forget our past mistakes, but we can know that whatever happened in our past has now been forgiven. We just need to focus on the bright future he has planned for us.

Redeemed – Entry #3 of 4

This Blog entry will address the following lines, the next Blog will complete this song:

All my life I have been called unworthy
Named by the voice of my shame and regret
But when I hear You whisper, “Child lift up your head”
I remember oh God, You’re not done with me yet

Do you ever feel unworthy? Perhaps we have been called unworthy as the song states, but perhaps we are the ones who tell ourselves we are unworthy. I believe we have a tendency to equate failure with unworthiness. By definition, unworthy means not deserving of attention or respect, not deserving of acceptance, and not suitable. People often feel they are unworthy because of failures. Maybe we did make a mistake on our job, does that mean we are unworthy of that job? We may feel as if we did a bad job as a parent, does that mean we are unworthy of being a parent? Our last relationship may have ended in an ugly way, does that mean we are unworthy of a positive lasting relationship? More of these questions and doubts come from inside us and from Satan as he tries to discourage us. We berate ourselves over what we have done wrong, where we have failed, and therefore give Satan a stronger hold over us. He is always there speaking in our ear and telling us how unworthy we are and reminding us of all of our failures. He does whatever he can to get us to listen to him and his voice of shame and regret and to keep us from listening to the Holy Spirit Christ has given us. It doesn’t mean we have lost our faith in Christ, it means we are trying to drive our lives instead of looking to our Savior for guidance, support, and love. We are hanging our heads as we go through our woe is me life perspective. The net is we end up serving the wrong master, even though our soul belongs to Jesus based on our salvation. All of this is so easy to say and we all end up in this place at some time, but how do we get out?

Once again, the songwriters tell how Christ reaches out to us and reminds us that he is always there. He is the one who whispers in our ear and tell us to be strong and hold up our head. This may be a whisper, but it is one that comes across with power. Our Savior and Comforter tells us to lift up our head and remember what he did for us so we could have eternal happiness and reward. Note that we are called his child, we are always one of his; regardless of the situation we are facing. This loud and resonating whisper brings us to our knees as we remember that we are always a work in progress and will never achieve perfection in our physical lives. God’s plan for us takes us through this lifetime on earth, he has things he wants us to do. There are so many things in his plan that requires action from us. He is always preparing and training us for the tasks ahead. Maybe he wants us to bring a neighbor to Christ, perhaps he brings a stranger to us that he wants us to help, maybe he wants us to be a stronger light to all of those around us. He could be looking at us to work in the church, to be part of missions, to work with children, or work in a service capacity. We need to always remember we may be the only Jesus some people will ever see. The world watches us every day to see how we respond as Christians. Our actions and our words determine the strength of our light in this world. To be what God wants us to be, we need to grow our faith and witness every day. I know the above is a daunting path but think of what Christ has done for us and what lies ahead of us. Are the expectations of God greater than the reward? I don’t think so.

Redeemed – Entry #2 of 4

I will take a look at the following lines in this 2nd entry for Redeemed:

Then You look at this prisoner and say to me “son
Stop fighting a fight that’s already been won”
I am redeemed, You set me free
So I’ll shake off these heavy chains
And wipe away every stain now I’m not who I used to be
I am redeemed
I’m redeemed

So, as we fight through our shackles and battles to get away from the dark cloud and imprisonment that seems to hang over us, we seem to dwell on the past mistakes we made and how we could have done things differently; we fight these battles and memories day after day. Jesus offers us encouragement. The song says he reaches out to us, he doesn’t wait for us to reach out to him. He reaches out to us as being his children, in this case the writer references son merely because the writer is a male.

Jesus is aware of the shackles we have and the history behind each one. He sees us fight the battles every day and expend so much effort to try and get free of our bondage. Our Savior reminds us that he has already fought the battle for us and that as he died on the cross, all of our sins had been forgiven and that we would have eternal life with him. Jesus knew we were not strong enough to fight temptation and fight Satan, so he fought that fight for us by dying on the cross and taking away all of our sins forever. He is telling us that he has prepared our eternal home and we just need to accept him in our hearts and rely on him via the Holy Spirit to guide us in every step we take. We need to keep our focus on the future he holds for us instead of the present and past that are weighing us down.

Through Him, we are redeemed, we are saved from the bondage of sin. Jesus paid the price for our sins in exchange for our freedom, this is what being redeemed is all about. Moses, via God, freed the Israelites from physical bondage in Egypt. He and the Israelites incurred the wrath of Pharaoh, but in the end their physical bondage went away. Only Christ can free us from our self-imposed shackles.

Because of this redemption, we can shake off these heavy burdensome shackles. These shackles carry immeasurable weight, yet we are now able to not just take off the burden; we are able to shake it off. Along with the removal of these bonds, Jesus wipes away after dark spot and every deep dark recess from us and basically allows us to start anew. Every stain on our soul has been removed and, in his eyes, we are perfect since we no longer have the sin we carried. We are no longer who we used to be. Will we sin again? Absolutely. Will we have dark days? Yes we will. The difference is that we have someone we can reach out to in order to provide comfort. We have a future that no one can take away from us. We know the day is coming when we will know only pure happiness, we now have help along our journey. We are redeemed when we accept Christ.

Redeemed – Entry #1 of 4

The next song for my Blog was written by Benji Cowart, Michael Weaver, and Michael David Weaver and first released in 2012. A link to Big Daddy Weave performing the song is at the bottom of this Blog entry.

Redeemed

Seems like all I can see was the struggle
Haunted by ghosts that lived in my past
Bound up in shackles of all my failures
Wondering how long is this gonna last
Then You look at this prisoner and say to me “son
Stop fighting a fight that’s already been won”
I am redeemed, You set me free
So I’ll shake off these heavy chains
And wipe away every stain now I’m not who I used to be
I am redeemed
I’m redeemed
All my life I have been called unworthy
Named by the voice of my shame and regret
But when I hear You whisper, “Child lift up your head”
I remember oh God, You’re not done with me yet
I am redeemed, You set me free
So I’ll shake off theses heavy chains
And wipe away every stain now I’m not who I used to be
Because I don’t have to be the old man inside of me
‘Cause his day is long dead and gone
Because I’ve got a new name, a new life I’m not the same
And a hope that will carry me home
I am redeemed, You set me free
So I’ll shake off these heavy chains
And wipe away every stain now I’m not who I used to be
I am redeemed, You set me free
So I’ll shake off these heavy chains
And wipe away every stain now I’m not who I used to be
Oh God I’m not who I used to be
Jesus I’m not who I used to be
‘Cause I am redeemed
Thank God, redeemed

I will begin the first entry in this Blog by analyzing the first four lines of the song.

Seems like all I can see was the struggle
Haunted by ghosts that lived in my past
Bound up in shackles of all my failures
Wondering how long is this gonna last

Whenever we read/see/hear the news today, it is all about the negative things going on throughout the world. It is about death, illness, destruction, family issues, disease, and on and on. It is almost to the point that there is very little time for the news to dedicate to anything good.

With all of this going on, it is not wonder that we start thinking about our lives and the struggles we have. It is easy to focus on what could have been, mistakes we made, things we should have done, relationships or family situations that went wrong; you can almost feel as if your life is as negative as the news. We put ourselves in a pit and struggle everyday to get out of that ever-deepening hole. It is these ghosts of the past that seemingly appear whenever we are alone or in the darkness of the night; these unwanted spirits torment us whenever we are vulnerable.

Every time we try to move forward, it is as if we have a shackle and chain attached to us and holding us back. Perhaps we came out of a failed marriage or relationship and we are scared to open ourselves to being hurt again. Our emotions are raw, the hurt is deep, and we question whether or not we will ever love again. We are sometimes so cautious that it is difficult for us to engage in a new relationship because we don’t want to feel that pain and emptiness again. The fears of being hurt are a shackle that holds us back.

Maybe we had a friend or friends that let us down. The friend was someone we trusted and someone to whom we had poured out our soul and deepest secrets. It is a friend who we trusted with our life. This was a person who was always there for us when we needed them, but one day that friend betrayed us. We may never understand why that betrayal happened, but we feel like an outcast and find it difficult to become strong friends with anyone ever again. This fear of fully trusting someone else is another shackle that we might carry.

Many of us might have a child who did not turn out the we way we wanted and expected. The relationship between parent and child is strained as the parent perhaps watches that child make one bad decision after another. The mom and/or dad feel the pain of their child and just pray for the day that child gets back on the right path for their life. Maybe the relationship between family members is not what it should be, but the love and pain are there nevertheless. This feeling of hopelessness may be yet another shackle we have added to our lives.

There are many other shackles and chains which might be attached to us that are maybe related to jobs, poor experiences at churches, feeling as if we are different in some way, or maybe just generally feeling like a failure in whatever we do.

The shackles we carry weigh us down and impact our lives every day. I don’t know that one shackle is bigger or heavier than another and I don’t know if the quantity of shackles makes a difference. What I do believe is that having only one of these attached to us is probably all it takes to drag us into the pit of darkness, failure, and even depression.

We ask ourselves, how long is this going to last? Am I ever going to escape this feeling and have the seemingly happy life that others seem to have? Is there anyone I can trust again? Is there anyone out there for me?
The good news is that we have hope and I will discuss this hope in the second blog entry for this song.

Click Here to Watch Redeemed Sung by Big Daddy Weave

When He Was on the Cross – Entry #7 of 7

This is the last Blog entry for this song and covers the following lines:

He knew me, yet he loved me
He whose glory makes the heavens shine
So unworthy of such mercy
Yet when he was on the cross
I was on his mind.
Yet when he was on the cross
I was on his mind.

I have often heard the question posed, “do we ever truly know someone?”; and it is a good question to ponder. When we say we know someone, I believe we are basing our opinions on the words, experiences, actions, and emotions of the person that we think we know. Even with all of this knowledge of someone, aren’t we often surprised by something they say or do? I do believe we know the person by an earthly or societal definition, but we really do not know their heart. My view is that we only know what people want us to know. I know that after forty years of marriage, I still do things that are a surprise to my wife. When the song says “He knew me”, I believe it is referring to Jesus really knowing our heart and being the only one who really knows us.

We may all have something in the deep recesses of our heart that we have never shared with anyone. Maybe it is an action that we took, an action we would like to take, something we want to say, something we did say that we shouldn’t have, a feeling or prejudice we have, and the list goes on. Some of things we are ashamed of and really don’t want others to know about. It doesn’t mean we are bad people, it is just that our lives are never a completely open book. Yet when Jesus looked at the crowd that day and when he looks at us today, he sees all of these thoughts deep inside us. In spite of him knowing our deepest darkest secrets, he still loved the crowd that day and he still loves each of us. The good news is that he died on the cross that day so that our sins would be forgiven, all we have to do is accept him as our Lord and Savior. He doesn’t care who we were or who we are, he only cares about us belonging to him and spending eternity with him. So, despite all of our faults, he still loves us. He accepts us with unconditional forgiveness, and he is the only one who can respond in this manner since he alone can show such mercy. Despite all of the things we have done wrong in our lives and being completely unworthy of being with Christ, he overlooks it all and prepares us a place in eternity with him. Yes, we were unworthy of this mercy he has given us, but he forgave us and loved us anyway.

Jesus is the Light of the World and his love and forgiveness brought light into the spiritually dark world. Through his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension; Jesus brought a shining light to earth and to heaven. All who accept him will have that spiritual light which will abide with them for eternity. He expects us to carry that light to the world as he carried it for us. The witnesses at the transfiguration were able to see just how bright the spiritual light of Jesus would be in a dark world. The light of Jesus reflects the true glory of the Father. The glory of the Father means absolute truth, complete love, greatness, splendor, and honor. We can see all of this in Christ and we will be part of that glory once we join him in our heavenly home.

The song closes with the chorus sung twice and therefore a strong reminder that regardless of who we are or what we have done, he still loves us and we still are and have always been on his mind.

The first entry for the next song will be posted later this week.