suffering – Song Dive

The next song for my Blog was written by Ben Glover, David Crowder, Matt Maher and was first released in 2014. A link to David Crowder performing the song is at the bottom of this Blog entry.

Come As You Are

Come out of sadness
From wherever you’ve been
Come broken hearted
Let rescue begin
Come find your mercy
Oh sinner come kneel
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t heal
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t heal

So lay down your burdens
Lay down your shame
All who are broken
Lift up your face
Oh wanderer come home
You’re not too far
So lay down your hurt
Lay down your heart
Come as you are

There’s hope for the hopeless
And all those who’ve strayed
Come sit at the table
Come taste the grace
There’s rest for the weary
Rest that endures
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t cure

Fall in his arms
Come as you are
There’s joy for the morning
Oh sinner be still
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t heal
Earth has no sorrow
That heaven can’t heal

I will begin the first entry in this Blog by analyzing the following lines.

Come out of sadness
From wherever you’ve been
Come broken hearted
Let rescue begin

We all go through times in our lives when we experience sadness to some degree. We lose loved ones, we lose pets, we lose a job, we hurt someone’s feelings, have a broken relationship; all of these types of occurrences cause us to be sad and maybe even feel very alone. In times like this, there are days when we feel that our lives are crumbling. We may in fact want people to leave us alone while we work through the difficult time; but the reality is we need someone to help us regardless of the source of our sadness. Too many times we delay getting that assistance to help bring joy back into our hearts and our sadness just continues to linger and the hole we are in gets deeper and deeper. Jesus left us with the Holy Spirit who is to be our constant companion and our comforter so we would never be alone and we would always have Jesus with us at all times.

Broken hearts can be devastating and it is so hard to heal a broken heart. Broken hearts can cause depression, may make us feel as if our lives are completely lost and there is no hope for the future. During a time of being broken hearted, we may doubt our own self-worth. I also believe that those we have loved the most are the ones who can give us a broken heart that we feel can never be healed. We are always told that only time can mend a broken heart and that is probably true from an earthly perspective, but that time and that pain can be decreased or eliminated by turning to God for help. We need to consider a couple of actions, one is to turn to God to ease our pain and the other is to think about the plan God has for us that will be the eternal plan for our life.

The rescue from our pain / the healing of our broken heart starts by putting our pain at the feet of Jesus. He tell us in John 14:27 that his peace is a peace that only he can give; it is a peace we cannot get from anyone in this world. I realize this is easier said than done, but it is the first step in the process of healing; let go and have faith that Jesus will take this burden away. The verse says: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” In Christ alone can we get the true peace, healing, and rescue that we need.

We need to remember that God has an eternal plan for our life, take a look at what Revelation 21:4 says about all of our suffering: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” We are also told in Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” So, yes, God knows we will have suffering due to the sins of this world; but he also reminds us that our physical life is only a blip when looking at the eternal life scale. Things may be painful today, but God has a bright future planned for us and we cannot even begin to imagine what is in his glorious plan!

Click Here to See Crowder Perform Come as You Are

The song this first series of Blogs will analyze is a song written by Mike Payne and Ronnie Hinson in 1983. A link to the song as sung by the Florida Boys is at the bottom of this entry.

When He was on the Cross

I’m not on an ego trip
I’m nothing on my own
I made mistakes and often slip
Just common flesh and bones
But I’ll prove someday just why I say
I’m of a special kind
For when he was on the cross
I was on his mind.
A look of love was on his face
Thorns were on his head
The blood was on his scarlet robe
And stained a crimson red
Though his eyes were on the crowd that day
He looked ahead in time
For when he was on the cross
I was on his mind.
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.

We often read and hear about Christ on the cross, how he suffered, how he reached out to the criminals beside him, and how he died on that cross. All of this is true and I know there is more to the story, but I wanted to review some of other surrounding aspects of this event as written in this song.

I’m not on an ego trip, I’m nothing on my own

Wow, think about the culture of today; it often seems as if we live in an “all about me” and “right now” world. So many people live in the moment, want to know “what’s in it for me”, and forget the big picture and how others are part of everything they do. Many articles are published today about people who don’t want to earn their way in a career, they don’t want to do their time, they want to start at the top. Many people are focused on starting with the big house and the new car since that is what many of their friends have or strive to have as quickly as possible. The faith of so many people is in themselves and that they alone are in control of their destiny.

There seems to be way too much focus on “what I did and what I have” as opposed to who helped get them there and how they would have failed without those who supported them. The songwriter states that he/she is not striving for the spotlight, to promote themselves as the best, or to promote an “all about me world”. He/she knows they are nothing without help from others. These people surely want to be successful in all parts of their life, but they are not seeking press and platitudes since they know the journey from who they are to who they will become is not solely in their hands. We all need help to get to the end of our life’s journey. There is nothing wrong with success, the issue is any self pride or ego associated with that success, and the lack of acknowledging that you could not have done it alone.

I made mistakes, often slip, just common flesh and bones.

These are the humble people who admit their mistakes and weaknesses; they know they are just human beings and were never meant to be perfect. It is more important to acknowledge who we really are than it is to pretend we are someone we are not. We need to realize we don’t know all of the answers; we probably don’t even know all of the questions. We must pick ourselves up after every failure and start marching forward again along with those who are there to be part of our journey. Every failure and every stumble brings new knowledge and perhaps more support as our journey continues.

When He Was on the Cross Sung by the Florida Boys

Tag: suffering

Come As You Are – Entry #1 of 5

When He Was on the Cross – Entry #1 of 7