God Smoking?

I found God on the corner of 1st and Amistad

Where the West was all but won

All alone, smoking his last cigarette

I said, "Where you been?" He said "Ask anything"

Where were you when everything was falling apart?

All my days were spent by the telephone that never rang

And all I needed was a call that never came

To the corner of 1st and Amistad

Chorus: Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me

Lying on the floor surrounded, surrounded

Why'd you have to wait? Where were you? Where were you?

Just a little late, you found me, you found me

But in the end everyone ends up alone

Losing her, the only one who's ever known

Who I am, who I'm not and who I wanna be

No way to know how long she will be next to me

Chorus

The early morning, the city breaks

And I've been calling for years and years and years

And you never left me no messages

You never sent me no letters

You got some kind of nerve taking all I want!

Chorus

- "You Found Me," by the Fray

I love music in the morning. It gets me going, helps me overcome the numbness in my ear lobes and basically makes me feel there is hope. Funny that I heard this song this morning by the Fray. I've been meaning to write about it for a little while now, since the radio plays it over, and over, and over... and over.

As I was gathering the lyrics off the web, I saw a comment that said it's very similar to Psalm 13, so let's put on our sweaters and outdoor shoes and follow Mr. Rogers to the Psalm (I like Mr. Rogers)... Read... Ponder... Blog... Ok, so I read the Psalm and so did you, if you're not as lazy as I am when I read blogs. There's definitely some parallels.

In the Psalm David's crying out to God "How long... Will you forget me forever." It parallels the Fray's question of "Where were you?" and their expression of waiting by the phone for a call that never came. Though David believes a call will come. Hmm.

Another key parallel is David's expression of the sorrow in his heart with the Fray's "losing her." There is no greater anguish in this life than the loss of a loved one.

The idea of being surronded echoes the David's refrain of being surrounded by enemies, which are all throughout the Psalms.

"In the end, everyone ends up alone" reminds me of the difficulties posed in Ecclesiastes and Job.

I find it ironic that a song that plumbs such depths is a popular pop song on my radio. Also one that they would choose to play in the morning. I can see the DJ selecting it for it's lyrics, smiling sadisticly, turning it on with a cackle and saying "Good morning. Now everyone despair!"

But the beauty of the song, other than the coolness of having God smoke, is that it's dealing with God. And the Bible deals. It takes on the hard questions. Where were you God? Where are you? And why?

And the Bible, precisely because it asks those questions, is about deep-rooted hope. I heard a friend the other days express that he's lost and needs to find God. He can't find God. I believe in a God that finds him. A God that will rescue him. In this I'm confident.

With David in Psalm 13, and now much more because of the cross, I trust in God's steadfast love. I know that I will one day rejoice in His salvation and will "sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me." Our journey as believers is to hold hope in open palms of dependance. It's how we hold on for dear life, palms open to heaven (for this illustration I thank a dear friend).

The world says "rage, grasp and demand." Much as the song above. The Bible says "rage, depend and hope." Much as in Psalm 13.

Life is hard. It's not simple. The Bible takes us to these places because it wants us to trust in the God of true Life. After all he breathed Life into us, so he knows how and when to take us to his truths.

Predictably, I will get cheesy and end with "Help us Obi-Wan-Kanobi, you are our only hope." Star Wars is never far from my mind and is the source of much of my spiritual heritage. Sorry.