I wasn't sure which subforum to put this under, but as it's a Bible study of sorts, I put it here. If it's the wrong subforum, I'm sorry. D: Feel free to move it to the right one.
This is something I wrote and posted in another Christian guild that I am in, as well as my FB page. I thought I'd share it here, too, so it could hopefully help others too who aren't in the other guild. :3
Ha...so. First and foremost, I'd like to say, please be a little lenient with me. I do not typically write these kinds of things and to be honest, this is probably one of my first times doing so. I have to admit, it is not something I really wanted to do. It is something I feel God has placed on my heart to do, however, and so here I am, typing this up.
I don't know how many other people are like me, but even if you aren't, it's alright, I think you'll (hopefully) get something out of this anyway.
So, for me, music speaks to me on a very deep level. There are many times in my life that God has used music to teach me something or to show me something. Though he has used many different songs and artists to do this, I feel that he is asking me to share some of the things he has shown me through the music of the praise and worship band Rend Collective Experiment, specifically their CD 'The Art of Celebration'.
This is being written about the song 'Joy' off that CD. Eventually I plan to write about other songs, but I felt this was the one I should start off with.
First off I suppose I should start by sharing the lyrics for the song. Or, alternatively, a link to their video for it on youtube.
We're choosing celebration
Breaking into freedom
You're the song, you're the song of our hearts
We cast aside our shadows
Trust you with our sorrows
You're the song, you're the song, of our hearts
[Chorus]
We're dancing to the rythm of your heart
We're rising from the ashes to the stars
You're the joy joy joy
Lighting my soul
The joy joy joy
Making me whole
Though I'm broken, I am running into your arms, of love
The pain will not define us
Joy will reignite us
You're the song, you're the song, of our hearts
C'mon my soul
The dark is just a canvas
For your grace and brightness
You're the song, you're the song, of our hearts
[chorus]
You're the joy
The song of my heart
The hope of my soul
In the shadows
In the sorrows
In the desert
When the pain hits
You are constant
Ever-present
You're the song of my heart
x2
You're the joy joy joy
Lighting my soul
You're the joy joy joy
Making me whole
Though I'm broken, I am running into your arms of love
Personally, I love how this song starts out. “We're choosing celebration”.
I'm sure everyone that reads this knows full well that life is not easy. It's full of troubles, hardships, heartaches, heartbreaks and sorrows. I don't know about you, but sometimes the pain can feel so unbearable that finding reason to celebrate is the very last thing on my mind and most certainly one of the very last things I want to do. Yet, it is at that point that finding reason to celebrate is essential. It is essential that we find joy in the Lord, even in our heartache, otherwise we may become consumed by it and fall into an even worse place that is full of hopelessness and despair. The Bible says that the joy of the Lord is our strength.
I suppose here is where I should tell you, joy is not the same as happiness. To quote one of the singers of Rend Collective, happiness is an emotion, a circumstantiol feeling to a pleasant situation. Joy is deeper than that. Joy is finding reason to celebrate, even in the darkest of places. It is not something that is easy, nor is it something that comes to us naturally. It is something we have to purposely and willfully choose.
Joy also brings us freedom. Once we choose joy, we cease to be shackled to our problems. Most certainly, they are still present, but no longer do the chains of despair have rule over us. We become free from the worry and the fear and the doubt and instead are able to find peace in the Lord. We can let go of our sorrows and trust them to him – our God is a big God and he can handle them, if only we will let him. Holding onto the negativity of our problems more often than not causes us to hold onto our problems themselves. We get so caught up in things that we don't allow God to deal with them. Finding joy even in sorrow helps us relinquish our problems to the Lord, because we can have the peace of knowing and trusting he will take care of us.
That, I think, is exactly what the entire chorus of this song is all about. 'We're rising from the ashes to the stars'. Is essentially a metaphor to us rising up and out of our pain and our heartache, and moving up into the things God has for us. I personally really love the lyrics 'though I'm broken, I am running into your arms'. What a wonderful thing to know that though my heart may be broken at times, I can always run into the arms of my savior. I can do so, knowing and trusting that he will hold me close and that he will heal the brokenness in me to make me whole again.
Though I love just about everything in this song, I think my favorite is the part where they sing about the darkness being a canvass for God's grace and brightness. Wow, just wow. We are sinful beings by nature, there is not one shred of goodness in us without Christ. Yet, he takes our darkness, the mistakes that we've made, and he uses them as his own personal canvas to turn them into something good. No, I am not suggesting that we go out and sin in the name of God, that's just crazy thinking and completely against what the Bible teaches. What I mean is, what joy there is in knowing that no matter what we have done in life, and no matter where we have been, God can still use us for his glory.
We do not have to be 'good enough' to serve God, because the fact of the matter is, we can never be 'good enough'. If we wait until we are perfect, we will, simply put, never stop waiting. The first step into serving the Lord is not waiting until we feel we are good enough, the first step is simply to make that first step in obediance and to do whatever it is that God has laid on one's heart. I struggled with that for a very long time. Heck, sometimes I still struggle with it, though not nearly to the extent as I did before. I've finally realized the truth of the matter that if God has called me to it, then I need to step out in obediance despite how unworthy I might feel on the inside. Now granted, this does not give us permission to continue on in sin. It is always important to strive to be set free of whatever sins that plague us. We must continually repent and seek after God for healing and strength in the areas that we are weak. It is through this that God will take that first step and turn it into another, and another, and another, until it ceases to be individual steps and instead becomes a walk with him.
How blessed are we that we have a God who cares for us so deeply? Not only did he send his only son to die for us on the cross, so that we may be redeemed in his eyes. That in itself is enough – but he chooses to give us more. He chooses to comfort us, to love us. He looks past our imperfections and loves us right where we are at in our walk with him. He desires for us to have hope and he wants for us to entrust him with our sorrows. That is certainly something to find joy in, and to choose to celebrate.
