I ordered the Jeremy Riddle Live Worship cd and to my absolute excitement, it arrived yesterday. I’ve been sitting in my car soaking it in... Listening to him sing about Jesus has taken me from goosebumps to tears. We so don’t get it. The Bible says that we see in part, but one day we will see in full. We get glimpses of who Jesus is in church or when we’re experiencing his creation or when He answers a prayer, but these are just glimpses. His full majesty is yet to be revealed. The Bible says that Creation is groaning for Him to return, but God in His infinite love and mercy is waiting so that as many people as possible can be saved.
Anyway, the last song on the cd is a very famous and powerful hymn. I looked it up a while ago and this is what I found on Wikipedia.... The hymn was written by a man called Horatio Spafford after several traumatic events in his life. The first was the death of his only son in 1871 at the age of four, shortly followed by the Great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer). Then in 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the SS Ville du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sailing ship, the Loch Earn, and all four of Spafford's daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, "Saved alone." Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.
“When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life,
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.
But Lord, 'tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.
And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.”
The book of James, chapter 1 is something I’ve read often but it always goes over my head as I dream about the day when all the trials will be over and everything will be sorted. Recently, as I have been in the thick of some trials, I’ve started to think “Maybe I must do what the Bible says and consider this pure joy! Maybe trials are exactly what I need to be moulded into the image of Christ. Maybe if life was perfect, I would not have compassion for those who are struggling. Maybe I’d be proud, unforgiving and merciless.”
Being close to the ground has given me a perspective about how many people are down here - people I would never have seen or thought about before, people who Jesus thinks about. The Bible says that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. In the world, we look up to the proud, but God looks up to the people that we don’t even notice.
What’s happened during this very difficult time in my life is that I’ve actually been given the opportunity to see life through someone else’s eyes. It’s been like a movie where you swop characters with someone and you get to live their life for a while. I am now realising, sometimes through tears, that these trial may actually be a gift from my God. How many people get to see life through the eyes of another?
I only pray that I will always remember it and always extend mercy as freely as I have received it. Being someone who never lacked for anything, I’ve never been a naturally merciful person. It’s one of the things Nick and I argued about when we first got married because he is ridiculously merciful and compassionate. He will take the shirt off his back and pass it on to someone he doesn’t know without even flinching or wondering how he is going to buy another shirt! I considered this very ‘unwise’. I am ashamed to say that my attitude was “You create your own lot in life and if you can’t get it right, then the fault is with you. Work harder or come up with a plan to sort it out. Don’t look for handouts.” Thankfully, my perspective has changed and hopefully one day I will be in the position to take a leaf out of my husband’s book and do lots of handouts, especially of the ‘unwise’ kind. Because doing what Jesus requires of us does not make ‘sense’ – Jesus requires us to do things that the world would not consider to be ‘wise’. But the Bible says “wisdom to the world is foolishness to God.” Proverbs 19 v 11 says that “He who gives to the poor, lends to God. God will repay him.”
I am grateful that I have been allowed to see life from the other side. It is embarrassing to think back about what a nana I was when life was easy. I think back on bold, rash statements I made and I cringe. All those words have come back to bite me as God is lovingly teaching me some things. He promises us that He will complete the work He started in us and He will do what it takes to produce the sweet fragrance of Jesus in us, a fragrance that is often produced only through suffering.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
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