Daily Word of Grace # 173 (November 12, 2020)
One of the most popular British rock bands of the 90’s was The Verve. Their biggest hit was their Grammy-nominated 1997 smash “Bitter Sweet Symphony” in which lead singer Richard Ashcroft sings, “It’s a bittersweet symphony this life. Trying to make ends meet, you’re a slave to the money then you die.” Later in the song he confesses, “Well I never pray, but tonight I’m on my knees. I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me.” In scripture the writer of Ecclesiastes similarly observes, “Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the son?” (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3). For many people, the sense that life is indeed a “bitter sweet symphony” and that “all is vanity” can be so overwhelming that it can drive even those who never pray to their knees. Each of us needs “to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me.” And that is exactly where the grace of our Savior Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest who always recognizes the pain in us, appears: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16). The grace of Jesus Christ transforms a bitter sweet symphony into a sweet one—and transforms a heart overwhelmed by vanity into a heart overflowing with praise.
Love and Prayers,
Dave