The Broken Rebel's Lament

This is how we do it
This is how it goes
You stay right here near me
But don't step on my toes

I am self-sufficient
So You can go Your way
Now I'm coming apart
Why did You not stay?

Where are You now?
Please I need You
Where did You go?
I can't see You.

This has been my story
It is sad to say
Things that could have helped me
Have all been thrown away

And things that brought me down here
Are scattered everywhere
Why would I have kept them?
Why did I leave them there?

Help me now...
I can't do it
You were right...
I always knew it

Help me now...
I can't do it
You were right...
I always knew it

1 Corinthians 7:29-31

29What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; 30those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

I'm sure we have all had a stressful job at one point or another. If you have ever had the good fortune of leaving such a situation, maybe you experienced a change in the way you viewed the job once you gave your notice to leave. Once you realized the situation was going to be very temporary, I am guessing that the pressures that once drove you crazy no longer seemed all that important. This occurred not necessarily because you no longer cared, but possibly because the fear of failure and the ambition for recognition were no longer driving your motives. In fact, in the absence of this pressure, you may have found yourself during this brief period with a new perspective, becoming a better leader, making better decisions and actually enjoying the job for the first time in a long time. This may have even made you second guess your decision to move on.

I think this is the persepective that Paul is advocating in these verses from 1 Corinthians. He is encouraging us to remember how temporary this phase of life is, and to avoid the needless stresses and other kinds of traps that can result from thinking that our current status is permanent. This way, we can avoid the thinking that we are solely responsible for dedicating all of our resources to changing our situation immediately if we are unhappy or protect it for all we are worth if we are happy.

Isaiah 9:6-7a

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.

Peace
If you want to find Peace at its absolute best
Go look on the face of the Christ Child at rest
Void of the cares of this life to be sure
No guilt for mischief or fear of failure
His Peace won’t depart as in others we find
Though He’ll carry the burdens for all of mankind
Even to death the Child's Peace will not end
Because He will trust in His God and not men

2 Corinthians 11:23-29

23 Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— 28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?

Love
I thought I was one
With love in his heart
With uplifting smiles
And words to impart
But then I was asked
Hard questions like these:
Child, where are your scars?
And why such smooth knees?

Jeremiah 17:7-8

7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,whose confidence is in him. 8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."

Peace
There is Peace to be found
On the tree by the stream
Planted so firmly
Yet perfectly free
Its leaves are deep green
And its roots well secure
It bears peaceable fruit
So sweet yet so pure
It fears not the heat
Or the storm or the drought
It learned long ago
What that stream was about

Luke 15:20b

But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.

Joy
Where does our Father find His great Joy?
In the contrite heart of His prodigal boy!
Home from the sty with his hat in his hand
Ready to be not a boy but a man
But could this great Joy be in me or in you?
There is another such Joy for us - yes its true
It's not hard to find 'cause it always resides
In the man who obeys while his Father provides

Romans 5:5

Hope
Love can reveal that we really do care
But Love without Hope is compassioned despair
Faith will be with us in perilous times
But we need blessed Hope for Faith to abide
We find Hope at her best in the darkest of night
She’ll be drawing us forward and giving us light
But what shall I do when she’s missing again?
Why, go straight to the Savior,
Where Hope lives, my friend

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.