The Start Of A New Season!

Post by Tommy in Taiwan.

The End is Just the Beginning Psalm 130-135

SBS has come to an end. Whoa.

Reading through these psalms this week, I felt like each one captured maybe a different perspective for the individuals of SBS. Each one has a different flavor, a different starting and ending point and a different cry. Some are hopeful, some are desperate and some are rejoicing. Personally, I'm a mix of all of these as I'm sure most of us tired SBSers are. :)

I'm so ecstatic about the things God has done in my life during my time here. I'm also really going to miss the deep friendships I've built. It's not easy knowing that I may not see many of them again, at least not in the near future. I'm also so happy to be going home to see family and friends and "familiar". Most of all, I'm fighting apprehensiveness towards the future. But if there's one thing I've learned in SBS, it's that God is sovereign and that my sole responsibility as His child is to look to Him for direction and obey.

For these reasons, I think I'll choose Psalm 130 for my closing piece. I feel that it's all inclusive, recognizing man's faults, recognizing God's sovereignty, and the call to walk in the truth of God's sovereignty despite man's faults. This is my mission in the coming months as I prepare to return to Taiwan long term. I expect that while this will be a restful time, it will also be a time of intense preparation, growth and deepening.

Thank you all who have read these projects! It's been a joy to hear/see/read your responses and I'm happy this blog can just stay up so that if you, or I, ever want to look at these again, they're available! Thank God for technology, eh!?

Amen and Amen and Amen. May the grace of God be with you everywhere you go!

Much love,
Tommy

Carol Of the Bells "Psalm Style"

Blessed is the one who fears the Lord

Walk in His ways always endures

The Lord He reveres, praises His name

Walks in His ways, the word he obeys

God of my salvation
His steadfast love endures forever

Weeeeee cry out

Emmanuel

God is with us

Psalm 121 "Casting Crowns"

I used to think some lyrics to songs were really corny. Like the Casting Crown song (don't know which one) that has "I lift my eyes up to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth." I thought they were cheesy because they were just copying lyrics from the Psalms. Having gone through God's Word in the last 9 months, I realize now how much power the words of the Bible have and no longer think of these lines as cheesy but really bolstering up the truth of the song. All that said, having been given the opportunity many times in this school to write songs based on the Psalms, I'm really blessed that we have such amazing poetry that us current songwriters can pull from to bring new praise to the LORD!

Psalm 137 - "By the Waters of Babylon"

I think this picture pretty much sums up the scene of this Psalm. The Judeans, being carried off to exile, are being made by their captors to sing a song of Zion, of God, while sitting next to the river of Babylon after having lost everything they've ever known. Now, if this was just a story passed on, that would be one thing. However, this is a psalm written to encourage his fellow Israelites to not forget about God and His power. He calls them to recognize their sin and see that they are completely deserving of the situation they're in. The author cries out to God for salvation in the midst of this incredibly horrible time. The author is at a loss for how to sing the LORD's song in a foreign land, much like how we struggle to sing songs of praise in our darkest moments. The author makes the right move, though. He might not be able to sing a song of praise but he will sing a song of mourning, unafraid to completely bear out his hurt and anger toward God during this time.

This should encourage us. God is not afraid to hear all of our pain and our anger against Him. He's not scared of it. It's wrong to think that we must perfect ourselves before coming to God and the worse thing that we could do is be like a small child and refuse to speak to God in our anger. The first step to us being able to find healing is allowing ourselves to feel all of the things we naturally do when something horrible happens to us.We can be angry when bad things happen... What a revelation. You mean we don't have to be perfect in God's presence? We're allowed to feel pain as Christians!? Yes!!!!! And the best part is is that we can take that pain to God, who's not afraid of it and has experienced more of it than we could ever imagine, and He welcomes us. BOOM. I don't know about you but the box I've kept God in just got blown open a little wider.

Psalm 141 - Prayer Like Incense

God, change and mold our hearts to where we love what You love and hate what You hate. Let our prayers not be stained with our selfish desires or petty manipulations. Let us by wholly Your's, completely devoted to Your cause, utterly abandoned to Your praise. 

Lamentation

This week we worked through the book of Jeremiah and did an alternate assignment on the book of Lamentations. Our alternate assignment was to write a lamentation ourselves. I felt God wanted me to share this with you all, beyond my normal and weekly Psalm project, which I'll be posting later today. I hope this blesses you all!

Who Can?

Tommy Leinonen

Sorrow, sorrow! at the thought of time lost. A desolate heart too wounded to even grieve, surrounded by the reality of what is and what was supposed to be.

                                Who can save this heart?

                                                Who can restore it?

Too much has been taken to ever be brought back. What was supposed to be cannot be. There was hope all along the way; a hope rejected by those who needed to hear it the most.

                                Who can redeem those who refused to listen?

                                                Who can take the broken and make something new?

All paths have been chosen except the one which promised life. All roads have been travelled despite the numerous warning signs.

                                Who can bring the lost back?

                                                Who can go to the end of each path simultaneously?

Desperation is what those who have chosen their own path feel. Nothing else consumes their thoughts; nothing else remains but the need for redemption despite their constant rejection and refusal.

                                Who can do it?

                                                Who wants to do it?

The rejected One stands at the end of each path, arms open wide, blood streaming from His hands. The rejected One still remains, broken in order to make new again.

                               

                                Who can bear it?

                                                Who can withstand it?

The rejected One bleeds for the sorrow that was not meant to be. The rejected One endures the humiliation of the billions that have rejected His pain.

                                Who can refuse to listen?

                                                Who cannot bow?

The rejected One cries for the loss which has been chosen; the loss which could have been avoided. The rejected One pleads to be remembered; pleads for their surrender; pleads for their attention.

                                Who can look away?

                                                Who can forget?

The rejected One lays Himself down for the weakest to pass over. He bridges the gap that no man could cross.

                                Who can neglect it?

                                                Who can get around it?