Man, I don't want to write a post about weakness... Right? It just seems counter-intuitive. Yet, this is the true gospel, that His power is made perfect in our weakness. May we never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ! The issue of human weakness and suffering are roadblocks for so many believers, myself included. It also relates directly to a song I'd like to share. A song where my sister Emma writes:
"May the bones that you have broken rejoice.
May the hearts that you have stolen,
be bound up in song.
May the grace and the goodness that you give
turn cold wind, to white snow, to fireworks."
To even begin to comment on this song and understand the thought process, it's important to understand suffering from a biblical perspective. This past Sunday at The Austin Stone, Joey Shaw gave an incredible sermon on this topic. He articulated the problem of human weakness and suffering in a way that opened my eyes to the truth of the gospel. Is there a way the we can truly rest in our weakness? Is it possible to still find satisfaction in life when tragedy strikes? I sure hope so, because tragedy itself, or the fact that hardship and suffering can occur at any moment, can be absolutely crippling. That is why we can take hope when Jesus says he has overcome the world!
“Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:31-33
This, in no way diminishes the real pain that we all feel when we loose a loved one, or experience trials of many kinds. That is why Jesus himself says, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Jesus doesn't say all this while chilling on the lake, or eating with his disciples, No, he says this right before praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, right before he is taken to be nailed to the cross. He understands suffering in a way I struggle to understand. This song my sister Emma calls "Job", was written 2 years after our mother's passing. Christ's power was made perfect in Job's suffering, and in Hannah's plea. Christ's power was made perfect in my mother's suffering as she went to her heavenly home because His glory goes beyond our human existence. Paul puts it plainly in his letter to the Philippians:
"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." Philippians 3:20-21
JOB
How did Job keep singing, with all his children dead?
How did he say, "from dust I came and will return?"
May the bones that you have broken rejoice.
May the hearts that you have stolen,
be bound up in song.
May the grace and the goodness that you give
turn cold wind, to white snow, to fireworks.
How did Hannah keep praying, even while she wept,
for a child she knew no earthly hope could give?
May the bones that you have broken rejoice.
May the hearts that you have stolen,
be bound up in song.
May the grace and the goodness that you give
turn cold wind, to white snow, to fireworks.
