Worn

Last evening I heard a song (we hope to do it on Sunday) that expresses the sentiment of several of the people I spoke with yesterday.  There are two sides to the song.  On the one hand it talks about being worn down by the things life has thrown at the songwriter.  You can get to this state of mind easily if you begin to look around and see the hurts, the pains and things that defy a logical explanation.  I spoke at Calhoun Prison in Morgan, Georgia and saw the faces of about 200 men who have made choices that have had life-changing consequences for them and those they love.  They prayed for freedom, for families they no longer get to see and for dreams that are in limbo.  They are caught on the bad side of that physical law of inertia ... the tendency of an object to preserve its present state, whether still or moving.  They are stuck, tired and worn.  In a comical thought I reflected on the old Hee Haw show and one of their regular songs that had the line, "Pain, despair and agony on me, deep dark depression and excessive misery, if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all, pain, despair, and misery on me."

But there is a better side.  As Christians we can be at rest and stuck in depression just as much as anyone else.  I don't think that place or attitude honors God or expresses faith that God has done what he said in John 16:33 "Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world."  But we can also be moving toward God.  Paul called it new life.  The writer of Hebrews referred to unshakable eternal things.  Isaiah called it a new thing, springing up out of the dryness of despair and the defeat we often feel.  Jesus called it resurrection.

The part of this song I really like is the prayer to God to allow us to see a resurrection.  We petition the God who has overcome the world to show us (daily) the great things that flow from his hand and proceed from his Lordship over every event Satan tries to turn to evil.  So I pray for those men and for you ... "Lord ... break the bonds of inertia.  If we are stopped in this world move us toward yours.  If we are running toward things not of you, turn us and show us your way.  If we are worn down, show us that you are working your good stuff even in the midst of our weariness.  Let us rise up on wings of eagles, walk and not get tired and run and not get weary.  We pray this in the name of the one who changed everything ... Jesus Christ!  AMEN"