Who holds the hammer?

Meditate on the words to this thought-provoking song:

The Hammer Holds
Bebo Norman

A shapeless piece of steel:
That’s all I claim to be.
This hammer pounds to give me form,
This flame, it melts my dreams.
I glow with fire and fury
As I’m twisted like a vine
My final shape, my final form, I’m sure,
I’m bound to find

So dream a little, dream for me,
In hopes that I’ll remain.
And cry a little, cry for me
So I can bear the flames.
And hurt a little, hurt for me,
My future is untold.
My dreams are not the issue here,
For Thee, the hammer holds.

The water cools me gray,
And the hurt’s subdued somehow.
I have my shape, this sharpened point,
What is my purpose now?
The question, it still remains,
“What am I to be?”
Perhaps some perfect piece of art
Displayed for all to see.

So dream a little, dream for me,
In hopes that I’ll remain.
And cry a little, cry for me
So I can bear the flames.
And hurt a little, hurt for me,
My future is untold.
My dreams are not the issue here,
For Thee, the hammer holds.

The hammer pounds again,
The flames I do not feel.
This force that drives me helplessly
Through the flesh and wood revealed.
A burn that burns much deeper,
It’s more than I can stand,
The reason for my life was
To take the life of a guiltless man.

So dream a little, dream for me,
In hopes that I’ll remain.
And cry a little, cry for me
So I can bear the pain.
And hurt a little, hurt for me,
My future is so bold.
My dreams are not the issue here,
For Thee, the hammer holds.

This task before me may seem unclear,
But it, my Maker holds.

Do you hear the story here?
The narrative begins with the pain and stress
Of being shaped into the person that we are intended to be.
The story continues with idealism and hope;
There are dreams of greatness and glory –
Surely God will do great things with my life.
Then there is confusion over identity and purpose:
Who am I and what am I to do?
Finally there is disappointment –
Is this really what God intended for me?
Is this role that seems worse than ignoble to me
Really the purpose of my life?

Ultimately this song has us ask the questions
That we all have to ask ourselves eventually:
Do we trust God and his purposes?
Will we yield even when we don’t understand?
Will we go where he sends us?
Will we stay where he puts us?
Will we serve in the role that he gives us?
Will we seek God’s dream for our life?

May God give us the courage to trust him.

Blessings,

Ron

Our place in the story

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying, "My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory. No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.”

“Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful. I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

Joshua 1:1-9 NRSV

God deliberately communicates to Joshua an awareness of his place in the story of God's people, in history. Not only does God speak to Joshua through Moses' words (Deut 31:22-23), but he hammers home the message in a personal communication (Josh 1.1-9, above). In short, "Remember the promise, remember how I was with Moses, because now I am going to be with you and use you as a tool to bring about this promise. I am going to use you to change history. Now that you understand this, be strong and courageous."

This is precisely where passion and courage come in. When we understand our place in the story, passion and courage are required. When God's children truly see the possibillities that God places before them to change the world, the godly response of their heart is the passion that drives them to pursue that dream, that opportunity for God to glorify himself through them.

At the same time, when that dream is tested (and God will allow it to be), courage is what is required to persevere. Our passion pushes us to finish the course even though it presents obstacles that our vision (but not God's) did not allow us to see at the beginning. Our godly courage keeps us in the boat precisely when the human part of us wants to bail.

Let's try to find our place in the story, and for our children's sake, let's help them to passionately seek and courageously discover their place (it won't be the same as ours) as well.

Grace and peace,

Ron