Hallelujah

I have thought a lot lately about love and pain, and how it seems that they go hand in hand often times. I have deeply enjoyed reading the Psalms in the past couple months, and seeing David's depth of soul come out in both the anguish and the joy of his songs. It is interesting to note that a lot of his Psalms came out of his running from Saul, and the great sorrow he must have felt, not having a home, or a place of security and love. I think in that, we see that he found that maybe affectionate love, or surface love, is found in the good times, when it is plentiful, and many great things are in the future. But he also must have seen that in the face of hardship, in the face of sorrow and pain, of losing everything, that a profoud love, a divine love is found, deep within the reccesses of the heart, and it flows up to become like an ocean, so great, that nothing can stop it. If we have found Christ, then we know that it is His love that comes over us in those times, and He is seen in a way so incredible, it could not be seen with a shallow love. Below are a few quotes from a few songs that can say this better than me, but if you know this love, you know that it is beyond words. So here they are:

'There's a wideness in God's mercy, I cannot find in my own
And it keeps this fire burning, to melt this heart of stone
Keeps me aching with the yearning, keeps me glad to have been caught
In the reckless 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 mercy, in the fury of His love

Joy and sorrow are this ocean, 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 reckless raging fury, that they call the love of God'
Rich Mullins, The Love Of God

'It's not the cry that you hear at night
It's not someone who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah'
'Hallelujah', Sung by Jeff Buckley, Written By Leonard Cohen

'the ice is thin enough for walkin'
the rope is worn enough to climb
throat is dry enough for talkin'
world is crumblin', but i know why
world is crumblin', but i know why

storm is wild enough for sailing
bridge is weak enough to cross
this body frail enough for fighting
i'm home enough to know i'm lost
home enough to know i'm lost

it's just enough to be strong
in the broken places, in the broken places
it's just enough to be strong
should the world rely on faith tonight

land unfit enough for planting
barren enough to conceive
poor enough to gain the treasure
enough a cynic to believe
enough a cynic to believe

confused enough to know direction
sun eclipsed enough to shine
be still enough to finally tremble
see enough to know i'm blind
see enough to know i'm blind'
'Faith Enough', By Jars Of Clay

"The world breaks every one and
afterward many are strong at the broken places"
-- from "A Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemingway


Hopefully these quotes will encourage you, and give you the grace that you need, wherever you are on your journey. May the Peace Of Our Lord go with all his servants.