Song lyric Sundays...

This idea has been pestering me lately. To take my love of "secular music" (as if music had chosen a side in the great spiritual debate) and pair it with what God is teaching me through scripture. Crazy I know, but call me crazy. So with no further ado, I present my first Song Lyric Sunday, with Seether's 'Rise above this.'

Take the light, undarken everything around me. Call the clouds and listen closely, I'm lost without you. Call your name every day when I seem so helpless, I've fallen down, and I'll rise above this, rise above this doubt.

Lately, I have been burdened by what I can only describe as weighty problems in the lives of those around me, including myself. Shattered marriages, uncomfortable sibling issues, adultery, unexamined lives, depression, physical pain and nearness of death. My typical response to hearing these things is one of two things: become overwhelmed and depressed or to pretend like its not happening and live a life of denial. I'm not exactly sure which of these two fabulous choices is worse.

Back to scripture and our song. The song speaks to the helplessness we feel when our circumstances are so overwhelming but also to hope and rising above our problems. I've been studying the life of Moses recently and it has been so amazing for the last month. His life didn't ever seem to go the way he thought it would, and it reminds me of our lives. In the book of Exodus, Moses

• Thought the Hebrew slaves in Egypt would know he was their redeemer- they didn't and he spent 40 years in the desert as a shepherd fugitive.
• Thought that if he gave God enough excuses or asked a lot of questions, that God would find someone else to go to Egypt- God sent him anyway.
• Thought that Pharaoh would listen to him and believe the miraculous signs God enabled him to do- Pharaoh didn't and increased the work load of the Hebrew slaves, creating resentment in them.
• Thought the Hebrews would believe his encouragement that the Lord was going to save them- instead they blamed Moses and Aaron for their punishment and harsh treatment.

Things were not going the way Moses' thought they would, just like our lives don't always go according to our plans. What happens when God calls us to something and it isn't easy? Our marriage is difficult, or even broken, our siblings hurt us, friends betray us, a parent dies, children are a struggle. What do we do when our circumstances overwhelm us? A friend recently said, "Disappointment is deafening. It can impair our ability to hear God talking to us." Our circumstances can sometimes scream louder than God's whispers.

God doesn't always promise us a smooth road. Life is hard. Let's face it, life can be crappy. But do we let our circumstances dictate us? God promises over and over to be with us in all things, good and bad. He promises to help us rise above them. "My help comes from the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth" the psalmist says. That Seether song says that I'll call your name everyday when I seem so helpless and I'll rise above this doubt. Hard times= times of doubt for most people. God is this really where you want me? God, where are you? Why is this happening to me?

Moses invariably went to God with his doubts. When all of the Egyptian plans they made together didn't go as Moses thought they should, he went straight to God for answers. When disappointment deafens us, and impairs our ability to hear God clearly, we need to go straight to Him for answers. Then we will rise above our doubts, because we will know God intimately, and know that His plans, no matter how difficult are for our ultimate best and His glory.