341 Blessed Be Your Name - M. Redman/B. Redman
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
I love the version from the Message. It gives me a clearer understanding of what it is about. And while reading this portion of the Bible, I realise that the person written in it is me. I relate to this part of the Bible. As I said before, the Bible is personalised, for each one of us.
I've inserted the verses here and also some thoughts of mine in between in brackets. Hmm.. If you are reading this, I encourage you to read till the end cos the beginning can be quite depressing. Ha.
Lamentations 3:1-36
God Locked Me Up in Deep Darkness
God Locked Me Up in Deep Darkness
1-3 I'm the man who has seen trouble,
trouble coming from the lash of God's anger.
He took me by the hand and walked me
into pitch-black darkness.
Yes, He's given me the back of his hand
over and over and over again.
(Yes. I've seen God's anger. I've sinned, time and again. But why does He do that? Why is He so harsh on me? Punishment? Isn't God supposed to be loving?)
4-6He turned me into a scarecrow
of skin and bones, then broke the bones.
He hemmed me in, ganged up on me,
poured on the trouble and hard times.
He locked me up in deep darkness,
like a corpse nailed inside a coffin.
(Yes. Darkness. I've felt that. I felt that I was in a dark box and felt as if I can never get out.)
7-9He shuts me in so I'll never get out,
manacles my hands, shackles my feet.
Even when I cry out and plead for help,
He locks up my prayers and throws away the key.
He sets up blockades with quarried limestone.
He's got me cornered.
(I cried out to Him but He didn't answer. Why? Cos I was asking the wrong things. I asked to have my problems solved. I was focusing on MYSELF. I want Him to forgive MY sins so I can feel better and then get on with life. I should be asking Him for Him instead.)
10-12He's a prowling bear tracking me down,
a lion in hiding ready to pounce.
He knocked me from the path and ripped me to pieces.
When He finished, there was nothing left of me.
He took out his bow and arrows
and used me for target practice.
13-15He shot me in the stomach
with arrows from his quiver.
Everyone took me for a joke,
made me the butt of their mocking ballads.
He forced rotten, stinking food down my throat,
bloated me with vile drinks.
16-18He ground my face into the gravel.
He pounded me into the mud.
I gave up on life altogether.
I've forgotten what the good life is like.
I said to myself, "This is it. I'm finished.
God is a lost cause."
(He made the pain of our wounds so unbearable that we were willing to do anything to break out of the bondage that tried to hold us. Even willing to give up the things that we hold so dear to which are also the very things that hinder us ffrom an intimate relaionship with God.)
It's a Good Thing to Hope for Help from God
19-21I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,
the taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed.
I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—
the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there's one other thing I remember,
and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:
(Oh, yes. I will never forget the darkness I felt. I will never forget the hopelessness I felt. But hey, for hope, I can turn to God because....)
22-24God's loyal love couldn't have run out,
his merciful love couldn't have dried up.
They're created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over).
He's all I've got left.
(Amen. How true that is. God is love. It is His very nature. He cannot don't love. It is not 'God has love.' It is 'God is love.' And no matter how hopeless things are, I am clinging to Him cos He is all I got left whom I know will not fail me.)
25-27God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
to the woman who diligently seeks.
It's a good thing to quietly hope,
quietly hope for help from God.
It's a good thing when you're young
to stick it out through the hard times.
(Because help will come. I just have to seek. I just have to wait.)
28-30When life is heavy and hard to take,
go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions:
Wait for hope to appear.
Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face.
The "worst" is never the worst.
31-33Why? Because the Master won't ever
walk out and fail to return.
If he works severely, he also works tenderly.
His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.
He takes no pleasure in making life hard,
in throwing roadblocks in the way:
(Ohh!! What a glorious and wonderful truth! He will not walk out on me!)
34-36Stomping down hard
on luckless prisoners,
Refusing justice to victims
in the court of High God,
Tampering with evidence—
the Master does not approve of such things.
12:31 PM