TGR-06: Good Grief with the Biastes

Podcast

TGR-06: Good Grief with the Biastes

Published by

Dr. Ernie

on

May 3, 2020

Devotional for The Great Reset with the “Biastes” (below) on this Friday, May 8th.

and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free
John 8:32

But do we even want to know the truth?

Question

How do we develop the courage to face unbearable pain?

Perspectives

Knowing who we are
Learning to Lament
Seeing Jesus
They are the same

Also:

Because it is our job
With our buddies
Seeing it done by those we can identify with

Biastes

Perhaps pronounced “bee-ahzz-tays.” I will go with “rhymes with Beyoncés.”

I have chosen the term “Biastes” for the emerging group of men who are walking through The Great Reset with me. This is a notoriously difficult-to-translate word from Matthew 11:12. The NIV reads it in context as Jesus approving of “forceful men,” but earlier versions read it literally as the negative “violent men.” Both senses work for me here; I also like the idea of Jesus ironically using a negative term to imply approval…

3 responses to “TGR-06: Good Grief with the Biastes”

stevenmcgriff

May 8, 2020

I am reminded of the song “Held” sung by renowned Christian Pop Artist Natalie Grant a few years ago. This song shaped my perspective of handling unbearable pain. Lyrics below.

The official YouTube video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ii7KcYeEDA

Listen to the music and close your eyes. I recommend you do not watch the video as it doesn’t visually tell the story of the song with any believable heartbreak.

Held
Natalie Grant

Two months is too little
They let him go
They had no sudden healing
To think that providence would
Take a child from his mother while she prays
Is appalling

Who told us we’d be rescued?
What has changed and why should we be saved from nightmares?
We’re asking why this happens
To us who have died to live?
It’s unfair

[CHORUS]
This is what it means to be held
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we’d be held

This hand is bitterness
We want to taste it, let the hatred numb our sorrow
The wise hands opens slowly to lilies of the valley and tomorrow

This is what it means to be held
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we’d be held

If hope is born of suffering
If this is only the beginning
Can we not wait for one hour watching for our Savior?

This is what it means to be held
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive
This is what it is to be loved
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we’d be held

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Christa Nichole Wells
Held lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Mike Curb Music

Reply
stevenmcgriff

May 8, 2020

Reference the Biblical foundation of truth in the song is in Psalm 18, but one verse stands out:

Psalm 18:16 New International Version (NIV)
He reached down from on high and took hold of me;  he drew me out of deep waters.

Reply
stevenmcgriff

May 8, 2020

In our conversation today, Ernie expressed the meaning of “reset” as a something that is a much needed recovery from ___________ and you can fill in the blank, as he did for himself.

Reset is good. It may be a revival, but it is also a command from the Lord to the Israelites in Leviticus 25. The Lord said to take a Sabbath YEAR after six years of working the land. Give the land rest, or in our context, let it “reset.” More…the Lord said after every seven Sabbath Years, sound the trumpets and celebrate a Jubilee Year. Sounds like a Great Reset, right? Sounds like we should reset regularly with wholehearted enthusiasm that the Lord is doing something great through it.

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