What is the meaning of trials? I want to be
Constantly gleaming with smiles—glad company.
Alas, this is not the case. A bitter taste
Sours my expression. Here’s reflection on these days:
After two easy pregnancies, the third wasn’t a charm.
My wife in the hospital seven weeks; IVs in her arm.
A family divided. Me taking care of two kids,
Ages two and three-and-a-half wondering where mommy is.
One illness after another. Nights without wife and mother.
The loss of her income. God, I’m feeling smothered.
I felt so alone. No time to spend with friends.
And not too many called. What is wrong with Christian men?
The wife is finally home, but our newborn son remains,
Three months premature. Man, it pours when it rains.
As if that weren’t enough, I just lost my job.
I do not see no [sic] hope unless my hope is all in God
Count it Joy (Count it Joy)! How can I (How can I)
Count it Joy when every hope seems to die?
It’s just a moment! One day even I,
Each tear wiped from my eye, will be caught up to the sky.
Picture me, now. About 740 BC
In the year Uzziah died was the day I got to see
The One of whom angels cry “Holy, holy, holy!
All earth’s full of His glory!" Hear my brief story:
I was commissioned to call the calloused to account,
Knowing they’d be destroyed in their sins, and no amount
Of God-inspired words from my coal-cleansed lips would change
Those who love tradition with hearts far out of range.
I got to show an irreverent king a sign from high:
A virgin shall be with Child. He’ll be the Suffering Servant guy.
Assyria and Babylon closing in fast.
High places, kings usurping priests, no one held fast
To the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Not many brothers came my way to wish me well.
And with the death of a king who paid me a little mind,
The new king is Mannasseh, the Nero of Palestine.
Worship of Jehovah is faux pas under this king.
Micah and I tried to warn him that this was not a good thing.
How long, o Lord, the streets are flooded with a bloodbath.
The king of your chosen people’s gonna saw me in half.
Count it Joy (Count it Joy)! Here am I (Here am I)
To do your will till I’m caught up to the sky.
It’s just a moment! One day even I
Will bless some hurting guy who reads of God’s work through my life.
I left my throne to be forsaken and alone.
What was rightly mine I did not grasp as my own.
From a lowly manger smelling of urine and dung
To the tree on Calvary where my broken body hung.
Nowhere to lie my head at night after long days.
In me alone was the Light and peace and grace,
But the leaders of my people straight smirked in my face.
My yoke they would not take. The Bread of Life they would not taste.
Even after signs and wonders and proclamation,
I wept for this nation that didn’t see its visitation.
And my own disciples were so dull in their hearing
Of the things the Christ must suffer as the days were nearing.
My Father hid His eyes. My flesh was torn. Betrayed by friends.
Nailed to a cross next to criminals. Thorns pierced my head.
You should shed tears as you hear my story.
My suffering has purchased an eternal weight of glory
Constantly gleaming with smiles—glad company.
Alas, this is not the case. A bitter taste
Sours my expression. Here’s reflection on these days:
After two easy pregnancies, the third wasn’t a charm.
My wife in the hospital seven weeks; IVs in her arm.
A family divided. Me taking care of two kids,
Ages two and three-and-a-half wondering where mommy is.
One illness after another. Nights without wife and mother.
The loss of her income. God, I’m feeling smothered.
I felt so alone. No time to spend with friends.
And not too many called. What is wrong with Christian men?
The wife is finally home, but our newborn son remains,
Three months premature. Man, it pours when it rains.
As if that weren’t enough, I just lost my job.
I do not see no [sic] hope unless my hope is all in God
Count it Joy (Count it Joy)! How can I (How can I)
Count it Joy when every hope seems to die?
It’s just a moment! One day even I,
Each tear wiped from my eye, will be caught up to the sky.
Picture me, now. About 740 BC
In the year Uzziah died was the day I got to see
The One of whom angels cry “Holy, holy, holy!
All earth’s full of His glory!" Hear my brief story:
I was commissioned to call the calloused to account,
Knowing they’d be destroyed in their sins, and no amount
Of God-inspired words from my coal-cleansed lips would change
Those who love tradition with hearts far out of range.
I got to show an irreverent king a sign from high:
A virgin shall be with Child. He’ll be the Suffering Servant guy.
Assyria and Babylon closing in fast.
High places, kings usurping priests, no one held fast
To the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Not many brothers came my way to wish me well.
And with the death of a king who paid me a little mind,
The new king is Mannasseh, the Nero of Palestine.
Worship of Jehovah is faux pas under this king.
Micah and I tried to warn him that this was not a good thing.
How long, o Lord, the streets are flooded with a bloodbath.
The king of your chosen people’s gonna saw me in half.
Count it Joy (Count it Joy)! Here am I (Here am I)
To do your will till I’m caught up to the sky.
It’s just a moment! One day even I
Will bless some hurting guy who reads of God’s work through my life.
I left my throne to be forsaken and alone.
What was rightly mine I did not grasp as my own.
From a lowly manger smelling of urine and dung
To the tree on Calvary where my broken body hung.
Nowhere to lie my head at night after long days.
In me alone was the Light and peace and grace,
But the leaders of my people straight smirked in my face.
My yoke they would not take. The Bread of Life they would not taste.
Even after signs and wonders and proclamation,
I wept for this nation that didn’t see its visitation.
And my own disciples were so dull in their hearing
Of the things the Christ must suffer as the days were nearing.
My Father hid His eyes. My flesh was torn. Betrayed by friends.
Nailed to a cross next to criminals. Thorns pierced my head.
You should shed tears as you hear my story.
My suffering has purchased an eternal weight of glory
INCREDIBLE!
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