Joy and Sorrow

Our first Postmaster General once wrote that nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. I’m sticking with the theme, but picking two different certainties, since Franklin’s two turned out not to be quite as certain as he thought. (See Jesus for the former and our President-elect for the latter.)

My first certainty is from yesterday’s post — there’s bound to come some trouble. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe next year, but there’s bound to come some trouble. That’s not pessimism, that’s just reality — we live in a broken world, and we all eventually step on that brokenness and find ourselves with a (figurative) cut foot. I’m on record that trouble was bound to come regardless of who won the election, but I don’t think anyone quite yet realizes how big the trouble will be. I think it’s coming with a capital T.

But the second certainty means that no matter the size of the trouble, we shouldn’t panic. I think there’s a reason Rich had these two songs right next to each other.

There’s a wideness in God’s mercy
I cannot find in my own
And He keeps his fire burning
To melt this heart of stone
Keeps me aching with a yearning
Keeps me glad to have been caught
In the wreckless raging fury
That they call the love of God

Now I’ve seen no band of angels
But I’ve heard the soldier’s songs
Love hangs over them like a banner
Love within them leads them on
To the battle on the journey
And it’s never gonna stop
Ever-widening their mercies
And the fury of His love

Oh the love of God
Oh the love of God
The love of God

Joy and sorrow are His ocean
And in their every ebb and flow
Now the Lord a door has opened
That all hell could never close
Here I’m tested and made worthy
Tossed about but lifted up
In the wreckless raging fury
That they call the love of God

Rich Mullins

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