Guilty: Story & Lyrics
Season of Lent- Lamentations 5
Reflections from Resurrection SD SERMON (April 7, 2019) :
“Sin makes the cycle of lamentation necessary.”
Sanctification is not so much physical therapy, rather it is like treating a chronic disease, full of setbacks that flare-up despite your efforts. It is not a therapy regimen you can control. This mindset will leave you really discouraged. We must let go of a “If I just do a, b, and c... then God will do this.” In our limited human view of all things, it’s very EASY to project our view or expert actions onto God, our definition of Him.
I’m very GUILTY of this.
So instead of doing that, maybe ask God, “What are you doing and wanting to show me about you, your kingdom, me as a child of yours?” This is a very different interaction.
With these flare-ups of pain, sin, and sorrow, we are experiencing cycles of lament. This is God’s parental care not judgmental care of us. God’s discipline is one of the surest signs of God’s love in our life. Hebrews 12. Our lamenting over sin is also a clear and sure sign of salvation. This is also a source of hope/encouragement to those who seek to be with God. These moments magnify the Person and work of Jesus.
Maybe the goal of sanctification is to smooth out the cycles of lament, but not to eliminate them in this life. Long seasons of obedience and shorter stunts of disobedience. Shorter patterns of these highs and lows is a blessing. Throughout the years, my friend Lindsey Clifford has consistently reminded me over the years that “HE IS DOING IT!”
The Spirit must do this work in us. Remember— the Christian life has never been about what we do for God, it always about what God has and IS doing for us and in us and through us.
In all our GUILT and neediness, Jesus remains the hero of this story. How great is the love of God.
Take heart beloved saint.
He is faithful to his covenant promises, even when we are not.
Yup, His grace is scandalous, there is no other love in all the universe like God’s LOVE.
He will hold us fast.
The love of the Shepard is fierce.
Guilty
There is a whisper in the air
A longing in the trees
Tension in the deep
The soul wanting peace
What could satisfy
The hunger that grows
The thirst of the dry
The cry of the earth
Who would come, who would come for us
Who would save guilty haters
Who could love, who could cover us
Gather souls up from the dust
An itch that won't quit
That no man can touch
An ache to belong
Accepted, assured
Hunting for the light
That can't be burnt out
Truth that survives the cultural war
We wade in the water of sin and of blood
We wade in the water searching for hope
We wade in the water of sin and of blood
We wade in the water searching for hope
Oh deliver us
From the belly of the whale
Oh deliver us
From the grip of sodom
Oh deliver us
From the pit of despair
Oh deliver us
From ourselves