Good Times From Bad.

Back in the early 1970's, pop music was moving from one certain style into another. Gone were the old styles of Rock'n'Roll and sweetheart ballads and along came Glam Rock and Heavy Metal.

It was a transitional time for music lovers and it divided many friends and fans as they explored these new styles and genres.

But it wasn't all plain sailing from a musical point of view. There were some occasional terrible songs that made it through the cracks of the musical styles and ended up being uncharacteristically popular. And they were woeful.

One such song was a comedy song called "Ernie. The Fastest Milkman In The West". Musically, it was awful. A simple musical tune with some tongue-in-cheek lyrics that told the story in a rhyming, comical way. And it should have been nowhere near the musical hit parade. But there it was soaring up the popularity charts.

I wouldn’t even have been mentioning this song at all except that it was played on the radio the other day. And I couldn’t help but smile. I didn’t smile at the song. I smiled because the song evoked happy memories from around the time that the song was released.

It was an awful song. And my home city of Belfast was on a high level of security alert because of terrorist activity. There wasn’t much to smile about. But yet kids from that time were still out in the streets happily playing and laughing. I remember my friends from the area, my school mates and the shop keepers.

And the song playing sparked a little train of thought in my mind about God’s people who look back and rejoice in the hardships that they had came through. Joseph the son of Jacob, Moses, Job, Daniel. All of them were facing God’s trials. But all of them came through those trials and rejoiced.

Remember Joseph? His brothers abandoned him and sold him off into slavery…

Genesis Ch39 (2) The LORD was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. (3) When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did,

Genesis Ch39 (20) ……But while Joseph was there in the prison, (21) the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 

Remember Moses? He was a murderer on the run and hiding in the desert…

Exodus Ch3 (2) There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 

Exodus Ch14 (30) That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians,

We all go through trials in this life. Some are from God, and some are from our own shortcomings and failings. And some are just from life itself. But none of us escapes hardships.

However, the child of God cannot escape God’s gaze. His watchful eye is always with us.

Take heart that, no matter what you are going through, or how bleak things may seem, Jesus is still our guide and watches over us. Remember God’s promise to Jacob? It still stands for us too…

Genesis Ch28 (15) I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." 

Or the prophecy of Isaiah?...

Isaiah Ch41 (10) So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 

But as we mature in life we will still tend to look back at the hard times and romanticise them. We hark back to "the good old days" and forget about the hardships we endured back then. They were like that for a time and a season but eventually they passed.

And all we have left now are the lessons we learned, the wisdom we gained, and the new strengths we have acquired.

God knows what He’s doing. No matter of our shortcomings and failings, or of the hassles from life around us, Jesus still has His eye on us. Watching. Guiding. And loving each and every one of us every step of the way.

Let’s not forget that.

Let the Lord have his way in your life everyday.
There’s no rest, there’s no peace,
Till the Lord has His way.
Put your life in His hand.
Rest secure in His plan.
Let the Lord, let the Lord have his way.

Email - TheseLivelyOracles@hotmail.com
Internet - www.theselivelyoracles.co.uk
Facebook - These Lively Oracles
Twitter(X) - @LivelyOracles58

 

Location: 1 A1, Belfast BT1 5YE, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Like

Popular posts from this blog

The Voyage To The Unknown

In fourteen hundred and ninety two. Columbus sailed the ocean blue. He had three ships and left from Spain; He sailed through sunshine, wind and rain. And so the poem by Jean Marzollo goes. It’s a glamourous and fantastical poem about what was a dangerous and hastily threw together journey. I was listening to a sermon by my favourite online preacher when he spoke of Christopher Columbus. He said…..               When he set out, he didn’t know where he was going.                When he got there, he didn’t know where he was.               When he got home, he didn’t know where he’d been. Our “faith journey” as a Christian is very much like that. Everything starts out at some point in our lives. And we do the things that we do to join in with other Christians and churches. But most of the time our journey leads us on twists, turns and detours that we coul...
Read more

Welcome to St. Goldilocks.

The vast majority of us have heard of the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. And we all know the story of how Goldilocks was walking through the forest when she spied a cabin and went inside. Then the main plot of the story begins. As Goldilocks tried out the porridge, the chair and the bed there was always one that was far too uncomfortable or too cold, one that was not too comfortable or too hot and one that was just right. This story has given rise to something referred to as the “Goldilocks Zone”. It refers to an optimum area where everything is in balance and not too extreme. A comfort zone, if you will. Astronomers refer to our planet’s orbit as being in the Goldilocks zone. Too close to the sun and we would burn up. Too far away from the sun and we would freeze. Some businesses use the Goldilocks theory as a model and balance for their workplaces. Their dilemma is either too many workers but not enough work, or too much work and not enough workers. So the management try to...
Read more

Built In A Hurry.

Many years ago I worked on building site which was building high-end houses. Very expensive, very large and fitted out with all the latest materials. A certain customer walked into the company’s offices one day and asked to see a plan of the new house being built. The builder showed him the plans which showed the various road layouts and where each house would be built on each road. The customer pointed to one of the buildings and said that he wanted to buy that particular house and that he wanted construction to start on it right away. The house couldn’t be built right away as the roadway hadn’t been constructed nor any of the other dwellings built yet. The customer said that he had the cash and that he could pay in full right away. And so the builder started work. The roadway was laid first and the various water, electrical and communication cables were all laid. Within a few days the roadway was built and the ground site cleared to start laying the foundations. After they were layed...
Read more