The Misery of Job and the Mercy of God

Mood: Broken Playing: Be Thou My Vision

Thank you all for your encouragement - it means so much that you all took the time to listen to it and give some feedback. I really want you all to get to hear the whole song, but I am hesitant to put the entire thing online presently because it's not copyrighted. I am going to really buckle down and work out a few more songs in the next few months, get them recorded, and then have them copyrighted at once (it's cheaper to copyright one CD with ten songs than to do them individually) - it's kinda pricey as well, but I think it's part of being a good steward of what God gives you. Anyway, if you all are really interested in getting a copy of the whole thing on a burned CD (nothing special, just put on a generic CD-ROM), let me know and we can work out sending you a copy. I'll keep you posted.

I don't know how much I have shared with you all about what has been going on since I got back from Japan, but life has been trying and God is gradually burning away the things in my heart that are hindering me from knowing Him more. It has come through an unexpected vehicle: the death of my friend's father. She got the news three days after I got back from Japan. His death was very unexpected and very difficult for her and her family - he was only 48 and left behind a wife with whom he shared a passionate love with, and five children - the oldest being my friend... and the youngest is nine years old.

I was privileged to help drive her home the day they found out and to experience and witness the grief of her family. In the days and weeks that have followed, I feel like I myself have lost a loved one, though I had never physically met her father. We live together in the dorms, and she is one of my two closest friends here at seminary. The three of us have weathered the storm of loss and grief together, though we as friends cannot experience the weight of grief that our friend is experiencing. We have good days and bad days, but in all of them God has proven Himself faithful and the greatest comfort of all. As John Piper says, "The great purpose of life is not to stay alive, but to magnify -whether by life or by death -the One who created us and died for us and lives as Lord of all forever, Jesus Christ." My friend's father knew this, and tried to live according to this. Death has a way of reminding us of the importance of making every day count, not to live for ourselves but to leave a legacy behind us that clearly points to the saving One, Jesus Christ. I hope that when my days are over that others will say this about myself.

So let's choose together to surrender everything - our desires, our plans, our material goods, our relationships - to Him. He will fulfill them for His glory and teach us a more excellent way, which is knowing God and trusting Him, even in the midst of loss and uncertainty. Here is an excerpt of an amazing book/poem by John Piper called The Misery of Job and the Mercy of God. I was reading it this morning and listening to the enclosed CD that has Piper reading the poem aloud, and it really rocked me. Here is an excerpt:

Sometimes the spark of faith is slight
And does not make the darkness bright
But keep it lit, and you will find
Far better this than being blind
One little flame when all is night
Proves there is such a thing as Light
Remember now the place and price
Where Jesus promised Paradise
One answered prayer when all is gone
Will give you hope to wait for dawn.