Suffering Song

There is a secular song that I have listened to recently.  Its lyrics are painful until the last verse and yet it is ironically a very lovely-sounding tune with harps and powerful vocals.  When I listen, I like to imagine it being sung to God as if from one who is suffering profoundly (like Job perhaps). 

It is called “Cosmic Love.”

A falling star fell from your heart
And landed in my eyes;
I screamed aloud as it tore through them 
And now it's left me blind.

The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out;
You left me in the dark,
No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart. 

And in the dark, I can hear your heartbeat;
I tried to find the sound
But then it stopped, and I was in the darkness,
So darkness I became.

I took the stars from my eyes, and then I made a map
And knew that somehow I could find my way back;
Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness, too,
So I stayed in the darkness with you. 
 

The Bible is full of suffering songs like this one.  Here are just a few that I thought mimicked the song above.

Your wildfire anger has blazed through my life; 
I'm bleeding, black-and-blue. 
You've attacked me fiercely from every side, 
Raining down blows till I'm nearly dead  (Psalm 88 Message).  

My eyes have grown dim with grief;
My whole frame is but a shadow  (Job 17 NIV).

All my hopes are snuffed out—
My hope that night would turn into day, 
My hope that dawn was about to break  (Job 17 Message).

You have taken from me friend and neighbor— 
Darkness is my closest friend  (Psalm 88 Message). 

But he most surely did listen…
he stayed with me, loyal in his love  (Psalm 66 Message). 

I believe that God welcomes and hears us as we cry out with suffering songs.  Like the one above, we may not realize until the end that he has joined us in our despair. 

When suffering abounds, may we remember that He accompanies us there.  And let us always pray for our Christian family that suffers in shadowy places we cannot imagine.  May they find solace in the presence of God.

(Listen to "Cosmic Love" here)

Kelly