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And
how does God respond? He does not defend Himself. He does
not explain Himself. God chooses to reveal Himself.
´Have
you ever in your life commanded the morning, and caused the
dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the ends
of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it . . .(Job
38 v 12-13) Who has put wisdom in the innermost being or given
understanding to the mind? Who can count the clouds by wisdom,
or tip the water jars of the heavens?´ (Job 38 v 36-37)
When silence
falls once again, Job finds that the answer to his suffering
is not found by asking: ´why´ but by knowing:
´Who.´ It is not found in questioning God´s
worth, but in seeing Him for who He is. God answers the problem
of Job´s suffering with the grand and wonderful mystery
of His power and presence. Job himself says as much:
´I
know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours
can be thwarted. (Job 42 v 2) I have heard of You by the hearing
of the ear; but now my eye sees You.´ (Job 42 v 5)
An unquenchable
worshipper does not rely upon endurance, doctrine, or determination
alone. An unquenchable worshipper returns again and again
to the revelation of a God whose worth and whose love does
not waver to spite our suffering. An unquenchable worshipper
can sing then with Job perhaps one of the most profound lines
in all of Scripture:
´The
Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name
of the Lord.´ (Job 1 v 21)
Matt and
Beth´s song ´Blessed Be Your Name´ focuses
in on this scripture, and tries to give worshippers a voice
to respond to God with praise, even in the painful times of
life. Matt writes:
´I
think we´ve received more personal testimony feedback
from this song than any other. I have come across some of
the harshest life circumstances I´ve heard of as people
have emailed in their stories of how they´ve chosen
to worship our amazing God even in some of the hardest times
of life. More than anything, this reminds me of how much pain
there is in the world, and about how important it is to be
real, honest and true (yet always remaining reverent) in the
worshipping church.´
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there´s pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
Every
blessing You pour out
I´ll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed
be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
You give
and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name |
