Skip to main content

Though God Slay Me


This song resonates with my spirit so deeply; as does the old hymn "What 'Er My God Ordains Is Right". Have you ever heard it? "Was Gott tut, das ist wohl­ge­tan" (original German language) was written in 1676 by Samuel Rodigast for his friend Gastorius who'd become seriously ill;  Gastorius later recovered and wrote the melody to put his dear friend's penned words to music. 
To this day, I desire a friend like that... you know... the kind that writes for you :) 

 I suppose there are a couple of reasons these songs feel so right, so real to my soul. It seems a bit deep to put into words but if you have a minute, stick around for my attempt at explaining. 

 Firstly, I've seen that so many in the Christian world believe only good/fun/exciting things happen to the ones God loves. It's like they believe that everything encountered is light, fun, and easy. Do you know anyone that seems to live under that falsehood? Maybe it's you; that person was me for a time in my early 20's. Through the years though, as I've grown in faith, the Holy Spirit has revealed a deeply necessary truth which completely eradicates that previously held falsehood. Today I know that it's in the difficult/painful/lonely things that we grow, become stronger in faith, and have a mindset that is more in line with our Savior. How can we exhibit Christ if we experience only easy & fun encounters? One rarely needs to dig deep into patience, long-suffering, hope, or God-like love while having fun. It's in the painful times that one really shows the incredible spiritual work that Christ has wrought in our hearts; and that work is so clearly seen when we move out of our humanistic response to pain/loss/fear and instead exhibit patience, long-suffering, hope, faith and agape. 

 Secondly, my own life experience causes the message in these songs to just echo in the most beautiful way through the corridors of my being. As mentioned above I truly believed, for a time in my early 20's, that because God loved me I would be sheltered and shielded from personally painful losses. Which led to the belief that if loss came my way, God would somehow keep it from hurting me (physically, emotionally or spiritually). As I write it now I'm sure remaining in that place would likely be recognized as classic denial, but I digress. So what moved me from that state of mind? Well, it started with my "Yes, I will marry you." I make a decision to commit in marriage to a man I truly loved and believed he loved me. Was I under the impression that he was or our marriage would be perfect? No, no, nope. However, I did believe (and a part of me still does) that love conquers all, and changes all. Twelve years later, after multiple betrayals that resulted in layers of damage (physically, emotionally) and hurt (spiritually) I was forced to evaluate the foundation on and from which I had operated all those years.

 I still believe in love. Oh boy, do I ever! However, I no longer believe that God's love means that humanity is sheltered or shielded from hurtful, painful experiences. I rather believe that we're allowed (given the privilege) to experience specific hurts & pain because God knows that we must grow in whatever area that pain and hurt is triggering. Many people run away from the discomfort of loss/hurt/pain and not only do they run away, they hide from it in various vices (body building/implant surgeries, substance abuse, food abuse, promiscuous sex, relationship/friendship hopping, chasing career/money). 

 Maybe, just maybe... we can change our perspective on and view of pain/loss/hurt. I mean the outcomes would be incredible. Here are some things we might see in our lives: 

 1. Actually become strong individuals - not just appear physically strong, 
2. Be satisfied for the long term - not just the short term,
3. Be incredibly rich on the inside - not just the outside, 
4. Have deeply real-ationships - rather than 10,000 acquaintances, 
5. Truly come to the likeness of Christ Jesus - rather than just considering Him at church time on weekends
 What say you? I say yes, lets!






Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

'The Wrinkles on My Face' (Lizzie's short story)

Name: Lizzie Tegart Age: 10 years Grade: 5th Date: November 12, 2012   Wrinkles on My Face It’s a dark morning. The alarm clock wakes me up with its “beep, beep, beep, beep.” I pressed the snooze button but the beeping only stopped for a while. When it started up again, I wanted to throw my alarm clock out the window but I knew that I shouldn’t so I got up. “Burr”, I said out loud. The floor was freezing cold on my toes! I tried to feel around for my bunny slippers but found only one of them, so I put on the one that I found and hopped to the bathroom. When I got there I flipped on the light; the light was bright on my tired eyes. I squinted and looked around to see my other slipper sitting by the bathtub. “Oh good,” I thought “now both feet will be warm.” After I put my other slipper on I decided to brush my teeth. Still squinting, I opened the cabinet and felt around for my toothbrush. As I looked through half closed eyes for the tube I thought, “I hope the raspber...
8 comments
Read more

Sitting in the victors circle -

When we get to the end of life on earth and contemplate the journey, to some it seems that we have fallen victim to and have been overcome by disease, illness, pain and death. It may seem that we were too weak to win the last battle and that is why life on earth is ended. Let us remember that all things in this life are leading us toward eternal life. Those who are Blood bought, Spirit filled, Bible believing and Jesus serving are those who understand that this place, this body, this carnal shell is not the end all and be all. Eternity is the bottom line for the Christian; the soul is what we invest in. Those who are obsessed with temporal life do not understand and cannot grasp why we rejoice when a faithful follower of Christ passes into eternal life. Those with dimmed vision and limited understanding of faith in God are angered & fearful at the idea of death however; those who decidedly live for Christ cannot help but celebrate when another Christian’s earthly journey comes t...
5 comments
Read more

With GOD...

  This verse shows us a contrast between the human perspective and that which is visible to God. It is likely that this young ruler felt that he was good and saw himself as living a life of honor to God. Likely, he was respected by his community and enjoyed good relationships. He was, after all, in a leadership role that pointed people to God. Yet, God was able to see what he and others could not see hidden deep within his heart.  We should applaud this leader's courage. Not many would have approached Jesus to ask for such accountability. Whether this leader asked to receive kudos, or if he asked because he could sense he was missing something, when Jesus pointed out what he could do he left sorrowful. Perhaps his desire to protect and shield himself through his wealth was overwhelmingly important. Understandable, right? Whatever the case, this leader walked away in sorrow instead of surrender. Isn't it something how badly the truth can cause us to employ various defenses? We ...
Post a Comment
Read more