Provocations from a few afflicted ones
"This world is fading away". ~ Seth G. (facebook post July 28, 2011)
When I think about suffering, I think about my son. He is the one afflicted with a degree of anguish that I cannot comprehend. I wish I could take his burden, but I cannot.
I have recently been reading about past giants of the faith who have suffered. Studying their lives, the depth of their wrestling and turmoil, have brought great comfort and inspiration.
One such giant is William Cowper. He also suffered, like my son, with severe mental illness. Yet he wrote the words to such profound hymns as "God Moves in a Mysterious Way" and "There is a Fountain Filled with Blood".
Teachers, they both are. Shouting to us that this life is not all there is with their very afflictions.
Here is a portion of what John Piper writes about Cowper:
"The fruit of William Cowper's affliction is a call to free ourselves from trite and chipper worship. If the Christian life has become the path of ease and fun in the modern West, then corporate worship is the place of increasing entertainment. The problem is not a battle between contemporary worship music and hymns, the problem is that there aren't enough martyrs during the week. If no soldiers are perishing, what you want on Sunday is Bob Hope and some pretty girls, not the army chaplain and a surgeon."
When I think about suffering, I think about my son. He is the one afflicted with a degree of anguish that I cannot comprehend. I wish I could take his burden, but I cannot. I have recently been reading about past giants of the faith who have suffered. Studying their lives, the depth of their wrestling and turmoil, have brought great comfort and inspiration.
One such giant is William Cowper. He also suffered, like my son, with severe mental illness. Yet he wrote the words to such profound hymns as "God Moves in a Mysterious Way" and "There is a Fountain Filled with Blood".
Teachers, they both are. Shouting to us that this life is not all there is with their very afflictions.
Here is a portion of what John Piper writes about Cowper:
"The fruit of William Cowper's affliction is a call to free ourselves from trite and chipper worship. If the Christian life has become the path of ease and fun in the modern West, then corporate worship is the place of increasing entertainment. The problem is not a battle between contemporary worship music and hymns, the problem is that there aren't enough martyrs during the week. If no soldiers are perishing, what you want on Sunday is Bob Hope and some pretty girls, not the army chaplain and a surgeon."
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