Monday, May 19, 2008

Jesus is Frustrating

Not even 24 hours after telling you guys that Jesus is a frustrating friend to have... i have to sit on the phone in silence and think the same thing while grieving with a friend over hard things in his life right now. Why doesn't Jesus love us in a way that makes sense to us? I don't know... but He definately doesn't, does he? On days that are sunny and we enjoy the flowers we can usually say, "Now I'm glad it stormed and rained last month." But those rainy days were so dreary. I didn't mention it y'day .... but there's a song written by Andrew Peterson on Michael Card's "Lamenting" album called "THE SILENCE OF GOD"... that has provided this lamenting soul strength in recent days... I'm particularly captivated by the lines i've emboldened below

It's enough to drive a man crazy; it'll break a man's faith
It's enough to make him wonder if he's ever been sane
When he's bleating for comfort from Thy staff and Thy rod
And the heaven's only answer is the silence of God

It'll shake a man's timbers when he loses his heart
When he has to remember what broke him apart
This yoke may be easy, but this burden is not
When the crying fields are frozen by the silence of God

And if a man has got to listen to the voices of the mob
Who are reeling in the throes of all the happiness they've got
When they tell you all their troubles have been nailed up to that cross
Then what about the times when even followers get lost?
'Cause we all get lost sometimes...

There's a statue of Jesus on a monastery knoll
In the hills of Kentucky, all quiet and cold
And He's kneeling in the garden, as silent as a Stone
All His friends are sleeping and He's weeping all alone

And the man of all sorrows, he never forgot
What sorrow is carried by the hearts that he bought
So when the questions dissolve into the silence of God
The aching may remain, but the breaking does not
The aching may remain, but the breaking does not
In the holy, lonesome echo of the silence of God.

Words and music by Andrew Peterson

Card's "Lamenting" Album is actually called "The Hidden Face of God" and--though i bought it for 1o or 11 from itunes... it is at amazon's dowload store for 8

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