Last night the Youth Gathering started down in New Orleans, which means we have the beginning of our devotions. One of the songs I’ve been thinking about a lot since we got down here is a song by Jars of Clay called “Oh My God”. You can listen to the song right here.
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The song is essentially divided up into 3 sections. The last one is the one that gets me. It’s the one that’s supposed to. The way it crescendoes and becomes increasingly intense and graphic leads us into a swelling of emotion. It’s heavy. Dan Haseltine, the lead singer of Jars of Clay writes about that last verse,
This is the rant. This is why I, in that season, spoke those words. I did not deliberate over these lyrics. The song was only sung once in the studio. These words were only written within seconds of singing. This is a gut level grouping of words. And it was a way of bringing the questions I had been storing up and forgetting about and remembering and fighting, to amplification. And so it ends with questions, just as it started.
In the song is a grappling with the big questions that we ask as humans. Why am I here? How should I live? It’s the questions that keep us up at night. It’s the questions that make us call out to God in our distress.
In Psalm 18, we hear these words,
“In my distress I called upon
the Lord, I cried unto my
God. He heard my voice out
of His temple, and my cry
came before him…”
So when you are distressed and when you get cynical about this world… what are the things that you lament? What are the things that make you cry out to God? Is it homelessness? Is it hunger? Is it economic injustice? Is it issues of race?
Today, we don’t focus on answers. Just questions. Particularly, what makes you cry out to God? Feel free to comment and join our conversation.
Cheers,
Eric
Eric Clapp 4.0 
This song always seems to bring fire to my belly….to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly. Thanks for the post.