Unredeemed

My good friend and mentor, Clay McLean, recently stated in his monthly newsletter that he is "tired of being angry!" That statement struck such a cord in my heart. The last couple of years have been particularly puzzling to me because I just can't see or understand the hand of God in any of the "happenings" in my life, and the unrelieved puzzlement has often led to anger. Add to that the uncertainty and grief we have all been experiencing the past 8 months or so with the condition of our beloved, though temporary, country, the United States of America, and listening to so much commentary, rhetoric and anger from both sides, my anger has known no bounds! Clay's honesty and transparency opened my eyes to what has been triggering so much anger in my own life, and it's what has always triggered the anger in me - the feeling that my life is out of my control, and the things I have tried to control have been disastrous, and that I have to come to the place of acceptance and "be still and know that He is God" and I am not, that He is big and I am so small, that He loves me with an everlasting love and has not abandoned me, and that He knows what He is doing, and that it's not about me, but about His glory, and if He is magnified, it always works out to my good! Amy Carmichael differentiates between submission or resignation and acceptance in her poem, "In Acceptance Lieth Peace":

He said, "I will forget the dying faces;
The empty places—they shall be filled again.
O voices mourning deep within me, cease."
Vain, vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in forgetting lieth peace.

He said, "I will crowd action upon action,
The strife of faction shall stir my spirit to flame.
O tears that drown the fire of manhood, cease."
Vain, vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in endeavour lieth peace.

He said, "I will withdraw me and be quiet,
Why meddle in life's riot? Shut be my door to pain.
Desire, thou dost befool me, thou shalt cease."
Vain, vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in aloofness lieth peace.

He said, "I will submit; I am defeated;
God hath depleted my life of its rich gain.
O futile murmurings; why will ye not cease?"
Vain, vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in submission lieth peace.

He said, "I will accept the breaking sorrow
Which God to-morrow will to His son explain."
Then did the turmoil deep within him cease.
Not vain the word, not vain;
For in acceptance lieth peace.

In the past few days, as I have been brought back to this place of acceptance and surrender, I purchased Selah's new CD, "You Deliver Me", and the song "Unredeemed" echoed these thoughts. May these words grip your heart as they have gripped mine. No matter what has gone on in our lives, in the past, (distant past or recent past), regardless of what is happening presently, He has it all in His hands and there will come a day when everything that is laid at His feet will be redeemed! He will not waste any of our sorrows, He will wipe away every tear and all things will be redeemed! I want everything fulfilled, restored, resolved - right now - but that is not always possible. Because we live "in the shadow of the fall", things are not always as they should be, we do not always forgive as we ought to, we do not always love as He loves us, we are all so broken, but there is coming a day when all things will be healed, forgiven, redeemed! Let us lay those shattered things at His feet today, and watch and see what the Father will do!

UNREDEEMED

Selah

The cruelest words, the coldest hearts, the deepest wounds, the endless dark;
The lonely ache, the burning tears, the bitter nights, the wasted years…
Life breaks and falls apart, but we know these are

Places where grace is soon to be so amazing!
They may be unfulfilled, they may be unrestored,
But when anything that's shattered is laid before the Lord,
Just watch and see, It will not be unredeemed!

For every choice that led to shame, and all the love that never came,
For every vow that someone broke, and every life that gave up hope;
We live in the shadow of the fall, but the cross says these are all

Places where grace is soon to be so amazing!
They may be unfulfilled, they may be unrestored,
But when anything that's shattered is laid before the Lord,
Just watch and see, It will not be unredeemed!

Places where grace is soon to be so amazing!
They may be unfulfilled, they may be unrestored,
But you never know the miracle the Father has in store!
Just watch and see, It will not be,
Just watch and see, It will not be unredeemed!