I Have Been Covering You
The truth is, God
I have been covering you.
This morning, though, it occured to me
to just speak my mind, to just be forthright,
and to get all my complaints out there
in the open so that we might have
some kind of public forum
if you felt brave enough.
Are you ready?
Here is one of my major gripes:
Why would anyone ever have
to do anything
to be let into their own house,
especially if it were cold outside
and they were shivering
and they were hungry too,
and there was lots of fresh warm food inside?
Another way of putting that is,
if someone were walking in front of me and
unknowingly dropped something precious,
something of extraordinary value,
what kind of person would I be if I did not run
as quickly as I could and pick that up
and use all my strength to protect and safeguard
it until I could return it?
Return it, if possible, without the person
having a moment, a moment of worry
or pain with the thought of it being lost.
I have fallen out of my own pocket.
My own pocket being you, Beloved
severed from the Infinite Soul.
Why, why, why? Why, why, why
are you not running toward us
with all your might?
You have stepped over a holy infant
dying in the cold.
You have left others alone.
I could go on tearing you apart,
as I should, but now I will give you
a chance to speak,
after this final thought:
How dare you make us beg
for what you say is ours?
Still, is not all perfect,
since all is in you?
And what may appear, will that not
in just a moment change, if you want.
It is interesting to ask why God abandoned us when we need His Word. Why does God allow suffering in this world? Pain? Misfortune? Why does he allow it to befall the weakest among us, the innocent, the downtrodden? Isn't there a point at which he should cry out "My children, my children, you have suffered enough". Still, Hafiz asks, is all not perfect because he exists? He does wondrous work through his love, wondrous work through his steadfastness. We do not have all the answers and at times that is the most challenging aspect of faith. Still, I pray that our hearts continue to love the invisible we know to be Truth.
The truth is, God
I have been covering you.
This morning, though, it occured to me
to just speak my mind, to just be forthright,
and to get all my complaints out there
in the open so that we might have
some kind of public forum
if you felt brave enough.
Are you ready?
Here is one of my major gripes:
Why would anyone ever have
to do anything
to be let into their own house,
especially if it were cold outside
and they were shivering
and they were hungry too,
and there was lots of fresh warm food inside?
Another way of putting that is,
if someone were walking in front of me and
unknowingly dropped something precious,
something of extraordinary value,
what kind of person would I be if I did not run
as quickly as I could and pick that up
and use all my strength to protect and safeguard
it until I could return it?
Return it, if possible, without the person
having a moment, a moment of worry
or pain with the thought of it being lost.
I have fallen out of my own pocket.
My own pocket being you, Beloved
severed from the Infinite Soul.
Why, why, why? Why, why, why
are you not running toward us
with all your might?
You have stepped over a holy infant
dying in the cold.
You have left others alone.
I could go on tearing you apart,
as I should, but now I will give you
a chance to speak,
after this final thought:
How dare you make us beg
for what you say is ours?
Still, is not all perfect,
since all is in you?
And what may appear, will that not
in just a moment change, if you want.
It is interesting to ask why God abandoned us when we need His Word. Why does God allow suffering in this world? Pain? Misfortune? Why does he allow it to befall the weakest among us, the innocent, the downtrodden? Isn't there a point at which he should cry out "My children, my children, you have suffered enough". Still, Hafiz asks, is all not perfect because he exists? He does wondrous work through his love, wondrous work through his steadfastness. We do not have all the answers and at times that is the most challenging aspect of faith. Still, I pray that our hearts continue to love the invisible we know to be Truth.
10,000 Reasons (2013), Matt Redman
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