What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace?
- Blaise Pascal
Psalms in the Night…
With so many wonderful Biblical promises and powerful examples of God's interaction with mankind, see Psalms of Delight, Psalms in the Night are a way of exploring and sharing some of the difficult and challenging thoughts, feelings and experiences God's people encounter while endeavoring to fully enjoy His presence and power, protection and provision. In ever more genuine and meaningful ways. For themselves and their children, family and friends.
Psalms in the Night are written in concert with Psalms of Delight. Both series contain Modern Psalms meant to comfort and inspire those seeking the Omni-God revealed in Scripture.
Won't You Come Down? Summary
The longest journey begins with a single step and progresses that way. So its exciting to find secular music featuring songs admitting and even lamenting our need for God. With "Heaven to gain and Hell to loose" it's encouraging when, with or without knowing it, artists take parts of ancient prophetic prayers and set them to contemporary melodies that stick with you.
Won't You Come Down
Modern Psalm in the Night 10
Human history and Scripture agree that for various reasons and in different ways You hide Yourself. All mankind longs for You to make Yourself known. When faced with Your apparent silence and distance most tire, quickly giving up the search as hopeless. Many settle back into religious dogmas and routines that offer some comfort through a formal or traditional relationship requiring little or no effort.
Others dig in and get down to business. Sadly, billions are lost, deceived by false beliefs into taking the wrong road. With so many and much at stake, those of us blessed to be on the straight and narrow aught to throw all our effort into breaking through to You.
I'm glad Scripture agrees. Thousands of verses speak of the importance of looking and longing for You. Of asking, seeking and knocking until we've received, found and stepped into Your presence. Even Your great prophets, like Jeremiah and Habakkuk knew how to lament and complain!
Paul, who had revelation after revelation, including having been to the Third Heaven, describes this longing clearly:
- "For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.) And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will." Romans 8:22-27
- "Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence! As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame! When you came down long ago, you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked! For since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him! You welcome those who gladly do good, who follow godly ways. But you have been very angry with us, for we are not godly. We are constant sinners; how can people like us be saved? We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind. Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins." Isaiah 64:1-7
I heard one the other day that's stuck with me. Such a haunting lament, like most songs the lyrics alone hardly do it justice. Even so, it's the lyrics of a screamo-progressive alternative band on a Christian label that caught my attention. Do they catch Yours?
Contact by As Cities Burn
Hearts aren't really our guides.
We are truly alone.
'Cause God ain't up in the sky,
Holding together our bones.
Remember we used to speak.
Now I'm starting to think,
Your voice was really my own,
Bouncing off the ceiling back to me.
God, this can't be.
God, this can't be,
God, could it be that all we see is it?
Come down, heaven.
Won't you come down?
Won't you cut through the clouds?
Won't you come down?
Oh, my heaven, why do you have doors to close?
Do you have clouds to stop his voice on the way down?
God, this can't be.
God, this can't be,
God, could it be that all we see is it?
God, does grace reach to this side of madness?
'Cause I know this can't be,
The great peace we all seek.
Come down, heaven.
Won't you come down?
Won't you cut through the clouds?
Won't you come down?
Did your clouds stop HIs voice?
And, brother, have you found
The great peace that we all seek
You say take a look around
If there's a God, then He must be asleep
God must be asleep
God must be asleep
God must be asleep
God must be asleep
I couldn't help notice our kids are singing along to a chorus that sounds a lot like Isaiah's cry referenced above. "Come down, heaven. Won't you come down? Won't you cut through the clouds? Won't you come down?"
It's a great question. Won't You come down, make "contact" and show we're not alone? Won't You come down, answer prayer and show there's more to life than meets the eye? Won't You come down, save us from madness and grant the peace we all seek.
Come down. Won't You cut through the clouds of sin and doubt? Come down, kiss us awake and show that like Snow White it's been us, not You, who's been asleep.
More information
In the Red Dropdown Icon you'll find resources that we hope will both stimulate and facilitate your pursuit of and understanding of the God of the Bible. To get started simply place your cursor on a category of interest and see where it leads. You can also join the discussion in a variety of ways including posting comments to God Blogs as well as making comments or asking questions by email or text.
Copyright 2018 All Rights Reserved