Suffering is relative. Our whole house is in some degree of the flu. We're not suffering right now though. Our friends the Colberts are suffering. The family at church who's mom has "one foot in heaven" is suffering. But many people that we know right now are struggling through difficult things: sickness, sadness, loneliness, lack of sun, boredom, grief.
This got me thinking about good music when things hurt. Abraham did a post about your favorite song for sadness. I answered "Everybody Hurts" by R.E.M. That's not the kind of music that I'm talking about though. I'm thinking about my two favorite suffering albums. They both help to acknowledge and lament the fallenness in which we find ourselves and yet point us to the hope that we have in Christ. This is how the psalmist laments in Psalm 73. This is how I want to walk through suffering (whether lack of sun or watching someone I love die.) I want to weep for a time and then turn to God in hope. This is the kind of thing that happens multiple times a day: weeping . . . hope, weeping . . . hope, weeping . . . hope. If you are struggling right now or if you love someone who is, buy one of these albums and send it to them. Better yet, buy it and listen to it with them. Weep . . . hope.
2 comments:
We are suffering, yet we do rejoice in that glorious hope that is Christ Jesus!!!! Thanks Andy for this post. I love verse 26. Also, recently a song that has spoken to me is "Healer" by Kari Jobe.
Jim
what a great post. i'll have to listen to these l8r.
Heidi
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