Last night I attended a worship service called Sanctuary, this worship service is put on by Lipscomb students. While I was there I had a heavy burden on my heart. Then the song "You Hold Me Now" by Hillsong United was played. When the song entered the chorus an overwhelming feeling came over me.
No weeping
No hurt or pain
No suffering
You hold me now, You hold me now
I believe that the generation that I can proudly say I am part of is screaming the from the bottom of our broken hearts. We are a generation of broken families, broken hearts, and broken spirits. What we know is abandonment and abuse. We are crying out for love because we are lacking love from others, for others, and for ourselves.
Many people look at us as a whole and believe that we are too emotional and that we only relate to God when it's the music time of the service because it pulls at our heart strings. I beg to differ, being part of the generation and not just one studying us how we think. We are emotionally inept. We don't understand how to work out our emotions properly. We have come to learn to subdue how we feel, whether that be covered with substances or depression. We are begging to be held.
Maybe I'm the only one who thinks this, but as a person who is a young adult and have worked with teenagers for the past few years I don't think I am. I have seen why the tough guys put on a front, it's because that's all they know. I've seen the girl that has been hurt so many times give up or give in.
People wonder why we like the music portion of the worship service. It's because during that time we are for atleast a little while able to scream out and tell God how we feel, whether it be praise or pain we are able to yell at the top of our lungs to our Creator. Very reminiscent to Job cries to God. [ and yes I do understand that we are not blameless as Job was but I do know that we don't understand a lot that goes on in our lives ] Why did he leave? Why did she hurt me? Why do I feel this way? We are waiting for the moments that we can feel at peace with those questions.
I believe that people my age focus on God's steadfast love because we have no idea what that looks like. Who can or will love us through our mistakes? Because I guarantee we're going to make a lot of them. We are a culture that desires perfection. We are not perfect, only He is. He will loves us after we fail. He will hold us when we are broken. His steadfast love can take it. There are so many of us who are just like the children of Israel, trying to find something or anything besides God to hold them through the weeping and pain. But none of it will do. They will all leave us empty. Only in the arms of God are the only thing that can be our true refuge.
We are a generation that is love starved. We are in desperate need of a loving Father. That's why we raise our hands while we cry out in song. We are wanting Him to pick us up and hold us through our flaws and love us despite our imperfections. We just want to be held.
We already know that we are not perfect. Culture reminds us of that everyday. We're not "good/pretty/funny/smart" enough according to the world's standard. Even the most beautiful, most intelligent, "best" person still feels inadequate. That's because this world does not look at the heart, it only looks surface deep, but the Father looks at the heart and desires to mend all of its tears and cleanse every dirty spot.
I know that I'm probably off my rocker about this but I feel very passionate about the brokenhearted. I know that there is a Father that wants to take that pain away. [ Also yes I understand He is Holy, Sovereign, and Righteous but I just needed to take this moment and focus on His Love ] He loves us when we are unlovable and holds us when we are in pain.
Here's the song that inspired this ramble. Give it a listen:
