Not many uplifting poems begin with the line, “There’ll always be pain,” but I hope the lyrics of this song will bring you the kind of real-life comfort we need this Christmas season, one where elementary school kids are slaughtered for seemingly no reason.
Hope*
There’ll always be pain. There’ll always be fear.
We’ll always have rain throughout the days we spend here.
We’ll always hold regret. We’ll always long for more.
We’ll always manage to forget those things worth fighting for.
We’ll always go through trials that make it hard to cope,
But I know all the while there’ll always be hope.
We’ll always wear masks we view through carnival mirrors.
Always questions unasked; always answers unclear.
We’ll always live with needs that are never satisfied.
We’ll always live with greed that will not be denied.
We’ll always go through trials that make it hard to cope,
But I know all the while there’ll always be hope.
Hope, not in mankind; not in this world we see
Hope, not in the future, but in eternity.
Hope in a God who would give His life for me.
He gave His life for me.
We’ll always have loss. There will always be tears.
We’ll always count the cost we have to pay throughout the years.
We’ll always have to wait for what we want, which will not last.
It will always be too late to turn around and change the past.
We’ll always ride the waves and wind ‘til we reach the other shore.
And hope will hold us to the end, when we won’t need hope anymore.
Curiously, shortly after Jesus’ birth, there was another massacre of young children in an obscure town.
However, this atrocity wasn’t committed by an unknown, isolated individual. It was ordered by a local governing official and carried out by soldiers who went house to house slaughtering toddlers and nursing babies.
Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” — Matthew 2:16-18
Even then, Christmas was full of both joy and sorrow, but as this song proclaims, there will always be hope! So again (and on a much more serious note than last weekend), Merry Christmas from our family at FMU to you and yours!
(*Words & Music by Michael Johnson © 2002 – RAHJah Music)
DNA: It’s What’s For Dating
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The LoveEd study guide series, Beyond Sex & Salvation, will empower you to prepare for relational success when it counts: BEFORE YOU FALL IN LOVE! It’s NOT for couples, but for any wise individual who thinks they might want to get married sometime before they die. Check out the first two 8-lesson study guides in our store. You can walk through it on your own, but it’s more fun with friends, so consider putting together an FMU LoveEd small group study. Even better? And ask a married couple you respect to lead it!
