Amy Grant - Better Than A Hallelujah Lyrics

if you have not reached a point where you are at the end of the tunnel and only God can save you....you may not understand what this song is saying. God is interested in what he can do for us more that what we can do for Him.....he wants to live through us not us living For Him....just like the apostle that Jesus loved always rested on the bosom of Jesus...we all need to do thesame.

thanks Amy for BEAUTIFUL SONG LIKE THIS!

"Praise The Lord"
I love the Songs, Lyrics and Voice of Amy Grant's. Her Songs lift me up when I'm Down. May God Be Continueslly with you till He Leads you to Haven...!!

i love this song...im 10 and me and my brother are going to sing it.amy grant is my favrite singer...go amy keep making songs.You have a gift

I did not like this song at first. Then I happened to be reading the biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and saw his quote, "sometimes the curses of the godless sound better than the hallelujahs of the pious," and thought I should give it another chance, since I so respect Bonhoeffer and his dedication to God and accurate Bible teaching.

God likes only praise, or likes it better than anything else. such is the sad theory of some commentators above. Really? Then Why did Jesus Weep at the death of Lazurus, even when he forknew he would raise him from the dead? Why did he cry out, Why have YOU forsaken Me? Why did He say I will never forsake you? (bit contradictory, no?) Your lack of Biblical knowledge (there is a time to mourn) is sad, for in your day of trouble, if God is kind enough to grant you one, your emotional fall - though not spiritual - will be great.

I've just started hearing this song for what it is telling us.God gets more joy when we bring him our real heart and share with Him our real thoughts and feelings because He knows we can't be happy and joyful all the time.He can't help us if we aren't honest with Him. We are His children and he wants to help us through all that is going on in our lives not just the good times but the bad times too. He loves us no matter what is happening in our lives.

Psalm 51:17 (NIV)

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise


Matthew 5:2-3 (KJV)

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.


Ecclesiastes 7:2-3 (Amplified)

It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to heart.
Sorrow is better than laughter, for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better {and} gains gladness.

All this song is trying to say is:
Better look inside yourself and find out what mistakes we have done in the life, instead of just expecting God to fix all things for us.
We have to believe a pray is not as effective as admitting that the way we have chosen in our lives are sometimes wrong and we gotta get back to the right way, respect the others, not be selfish and try to see others.
In fact a pray is not more than feeling ashamed of our mistakes and ask Lord to protect us for the rest of our life.
Let people pray the way they like :)
Thanks for the simple meaningful text.

wow..when I heard this song on the radio, my first response to it was, "what the heck"? When we are suffering God doesn't see it as a melody?? God isn't sitting up there saying...oh, that soldier is dying & he's crying out to me- haha this is so much better than a church full of people having a praise service. I had to come look up the lyrics & try to figure out the deeper meaning. I've read all of the comments & I agree, when we are in our outmost sorrows & call out to God, we are crying out with our "real hearts" and it is more meaningful than when everything in our life is going ok. I understand what the song is trying to say now, but it took me awhile to figure it out & i'm afraid that it sends a mixed message to those listening..unlike the "I will praise you in this storm" song- that is 100% clear and not full of deep, hidden meanings that you have to figure out. I don't like what the song on the surface implies & I'm sad that amy grant would put it out there..people are going to get the wrong message about this song!!

I was moved to tears by some of these comments. Esp the one in 3.02 about writing 10 things that influenced your faith in GOD. I am a Minister of the Gospel and have been going through unbelievable suffering, isolation and persecution. Everything i have depended on, i seem to have lost- my marriage, my job, my ministry, my friends, my family. I now live in what i consider to be a strange land. It has been really difficult-but i have never felt HIS love and HIS faithfulness as much as I feel it now. I just know that all will be well, i just know that this too shall pass. I just know that HE has me in HIS firm grasp and no matter what happens I am in HIS good thoughts. And that is far better than a Hallelujah.
Because as much as i have preached several sermons and led thousands in worship, as much as i have asked people as i stood in front of them to shout Hallelujah to the KING OF KINGS, I now know for sure the silence and the tears that are far far better than a Hellulujah. Thank you Amy Grant for this deep deep deep and liberating song. BLESS THE LORD O MY SOUL AND ALL THAT WITHIN ME BLESS HIS HOLY NAME!

I realize it's been a while since anyone posted to this thread, but I would like to add something. I feel like too many Christians (myself included) tend to think we must be perfect in order to be good wittnesses to Christ. This is a topic my Sunday School class has discussed at great length, and my pastor recently preached a sermon series of the same focus. The pastor shared he had recently tried to encourage a hurting couple to come to worship service, but they refused because they felt like "no one else at your church has problems like we do." Not true! As Christians we must live for the Lord, praise his name, and be authentic!!! We aren't perfect...oh no, we all have our habits, hang-ups, and hurts. So I love these lyrics because to me they say, "Hey, God doesn't want you to pretend to be perfect. He just wants you to be honest and cry out to Him in your time of need." What better way to wittness to other people than to be authentic, admit we have our problems, lean on one another and on God, and make it known that He still loves us! So, you're an addict of alcohol, drugs, control, work, shopping, sex, etc. or have had horrible things done to you? Jesus loves it when we come to Him to help us through our pain. Yes, we praise his name, but our God is an all-loving God who doesn't want to ignore our problems. A previous poster mentioned that God will use our pain to help others, and I'm a living witness to that point. My husband and I struggled for years with infertility but now have two beautiful girls. I've been able to stand by several women who've struggled with the same pain. Okay, I guess that's all. I may be starting to ramble! :) With love to all, Betsy

Simple and beautiful message:
The voice of God's Children is music to his ears, and he gives UNCONDITIONAL LOVE and support no matter who the person, or what their situation.
We are never alone, and there is a purpose for the suffering.

i anonymous of march 20,2010..your questions,
1) If God is all-powerful, then God would be *able* to stop suffering (of, for instance, wholly innocent children).

Philippians 1:29,
For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him...
(The Christian life is to be a "not only...but also" proposition: not only believing but also suffering.)

2) If God is all-good, then God would *want* to stop suffering (of, for instance, wholly innocent children).

Romans 4:4,5,6,8, NIV "Not only so, but we also rejoice in sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom God has given us.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 8: ...While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

3) But suffering (of, for instance, wholly innocent children) clearly exists. In fact suffering is ubiquitous (as this song make clear).

...We know that suffering produces perseverance;perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom God has given us.

4) Therefore, God cannot be both all-powerful and all-good. (Either God is utterly indifferent to our suffering, and is not all-good; Or God is incapable of stopping suffering, so is not all-powerful. Putting it bluntly, God is either too too cruel or too weak to stop it.)

As much as I like Amy Grant, her lyrics make this problem even worse, as though God actually takes pleasure in, gets a kick out of, our suffering. (Very troubling.)

For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him...
(The Christian life is to be a "not only...but also" proposition: not only believing but also suffering.)

Jesus died for us, while we were yet sinners. I hope this helps clarify and understand why suffering produces a stronger faith in his children. Please also check out the scripture references to gain an even greater understanding of what these passages teaches us, and why.

Blessings always.

This song (along with the other comments posted) has helped me through a rough spot in my life. Although I will probably never meet any of you who posted comments or Amy Grant, I am very thankful to you. Thank you and God bless you all, no matter who you are or what you are going through.

Suffering is part of our world because of the fall of Adam and Eve. They chose to disobey God and now Evil has become a part of our world and we have to deal with it but God never leaves our side through it all. Suffering shapes our character and molds us into the person that God wants us to be. It also helps us in our witness to others. If you had an addiction problem and God pulled your through it, then you more effectively witness to other addicts than someone who never went through it. God uses people to do his work here on earth. Our God is a jealous God and wants us to only worship Him but He is not a conceited God who only wants praise from us and doesn't want to hear our problems. God seeks a relationship with us which is why He sent his son to die for our sins so we can be a right relationship with Him. In the song lyrics God is not rejoicing in our suffering but in our coming to Him for help and trusting in Him for our needs, that IS more important to Him than just our praises though He wants that too. He wants to be our Father. I think of it as Father teaching his child to ride a bike. At first he holds onto the bike so the child doesn't fall but as the child begins to understand what he is suppossed to do the father lets go and then the child falls and skins his knees most likely many times until he can finally do it on his own. The Father rejoices not because of the falls and hurts but because of what the child has learned from it. Our earthly Fathers love to hear us thank and praise them for the things they have done for us but they also like it that we come to them with our problems, not because they want us to have problems but because they are glad that they are the one that we sought out and trusted to help us and our heavenly Father feels the same. Don't be bitter about suffering but try to see what God may be trying to teach you and know that He will see you throught it.

God Bless

Maureen

**Dear Jessica (3-22); & 3-23, 2:12 & 3-23, 03:03 & 3-27 & Peter (3-31) and 4-03, 12:13 . . .**

I am deeply moved by your heartfelt and thoughtful responses to my earlier post (3-20). And I sincerely thank you for your taking the time to understand my feelings of confusion. I must admit I was half-worried that my original post would prompt name-calling for even mentioning those thoughts. Quite to the contrary, however, your posts were genuine, compassionate, and profoundly honest. Some of them brought tears to my eyes, and, in addition to feeling so very sad for what some of you have endured, I wholeheartedly admire you for your strength. Each of your thoughtful responses has given me much to think about. (On that note, thank you Peter for the references to books that wrestle with those concerns.)

Of course, in respect to my original question, I don't know just where the thoughts you've so kindly shared will take me. But I assure you, I will do what I can to try and understand the world in the ways in which you've expressed it. And I can also assure you that, if nothing else, you have rekindled in me at least one kind of genuine faith, a faith that there are people who authentically endeavor to practice the kindness and compassion to which a loving God would want us to aspire. And I deeply appreciate that.

With all that has been said below, I must commend Amy Grant et. al, for putting together such a powerful and thought-provoking song, one that would allow complete strangers to so honestly share their concerns, hopes, pains . . .

If there is an all-loving and all-powerful God - and again, I may yet find my way back to the belief that there is - I do not doubt that such a God would smile upon each of you.

Please know that my gratitude goes beyond all of my words,
'3-20'

To Anonymous on 3.20.10:

I have asked myself many of the same questions throughout my life. I was molested by my father from a very young age (I can remember as far back as 5 years old) until I finally got the courage to stop it at 14. I couldn't understand how anyone could do that to a small innocent child, one of your OWN children at that. I'm currently being counseled (presently 31 yrs old) and still dealing with evens that happened 25 years ago. One of the things that has helped me more than anything was this realization.

There are 3 causes for "bad things" to happen to other people.

1. The sin in the world.
2. The sin of the others.
3. The sins of one's self.

Now not every tragedy falls into all of these categories. Sin was brought into the world, and everything in the world is effected by this. This was not God's will. God's will was for us to live in perfect fellowship with him. For love to be real, we have to be given the choice. If we do not choose to love on our own, then it is not really love. God has given us all the choice as to whether or not we're going to serve and love Him, and thusly others. Matthew 22:36-40 36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Not everyone lives by those commandments. When an innocent child is abused by his/her parents, it is the result of the sin of the parent, no fault of the child. But God has given us a promise Joel 2:25 "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten..." I know He was there with me when I went through the events of my early childhood life. Things could have been considerably worse than what they were. His grace provides a way for us to overcome and be healed from the events that have caused us great pain. Even the pain that was caused at the hands of another.

My late childhood years and early 20's were strife with escape routes. I did everything I could to escape the pain and agony I was feeling on the inside. Eventually turning to sex, alcohol and drugs. One amazing night God delivered me from my alcohol and drug addiction (4+ years now!!). While many of the troubles I have in my life right now, are still the residual effects of the lifestyle I led while drunk and high, there are things that are being restored in my life. My employment record was destroyed, but is now being restored. The relationships I had that were once ruined, are now being restored. It doesn't happen over night, but it does happen in God's time. Now I'm a place to take the sufferings of my past, and turn them for God's good, to help other people.

Sin, pain and suffering are inevitable, this world belongs to the devil. 2 Corinthians 4:4 "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." But God gives us so many promises and wishes that no one suffer from the effects of sin 2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

People seem to forget that there are 2 spiritual forces in this world. God (good) and Satan (bad) James 1:17 "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." Why do we always blame bad things that happen on God, when there is evil at work in this world. The good gifts are from god, the pain and suffering is caused by Satan. And God has given us a way out John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." A way to conquer and overcome the pain and suffering the Devil causes.

This Easter message is inspired by Amy grant's worship song titled Better than a hallellujah !

...As stated in Eccl9:11, at some point each and every one of us will get to the point when you just seem caught up between a rock and a hard place! Bad luck if you like...

Ecclesiastes 9: 11 I took another walk around the neighborhood and realized that on this earth as it is—
The race is not always to the swift,
Nor the battle to the strong, Nor satisfaction to the wise, Nor riches to the smart, Nor grace to the learned. Sooner or later bad luck hits us all.

....Sometimes we are the cause of our own misfortune as stated in Isaiah 59:2 but sometimes its just sheer bad luck ...

Isaiah 59:2 There’s nothing wrong with God; the wrong is in you. Your sins got between you so that he doesn’t hear. 3 Your hands are drenched in blood, your fingers dripping with guilt, Your lips smeared with lies, your tongue swollen from muttering obscenities. 4 No one speaks up for the right, no one deals fairly. They trust in illusion, they tell lies, they get pregnant with mischief and have sin-babies.

.... So we get to the point when we begin to groan and moan and complain...


Psalm 31:10 My life leaks away, groan by groan;my years fade out in sighs. My troubles have worn me out, turned my bones to powder.

Ezekiel 24: 23 You’ll get dressed as usual and go about your work. No tears. But your sins will eat away at you from within and you’ll groan among yourselves.

.... And we ask ourselves if God really exists! Does he listen? Does he even care? In all this what baffles me the most is that we haven't even prayed or cried out honestly, openly and sincerely yet we expect a miracle. Do you know that God is actually interested in your cries, he cares when you moan and listens when you groan in desperation? Although He delights in our praises and hallelujahs, those times when He knows Hallelujahs are far from our lips, He understands and longs that we just pour out our hearts to Him - that melody of reliance and total dependence on Him. Some have tried this ...

Psalm 5: 1 Listen, God! Please, pay attention! Can you make sense of these ramblings, 2 my groans and cries?
King-God, I need your help. 3 Every morning you’ll hear me at it again. Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your altar and watch for fire to descend.

Exodus 2:24-25 God listened to their groanings. God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw what was going on with Israel.God understood.

Exodus 6: 5 But now I’ve heard the groanings of the Israelites whom the Egyptians continue to enslave and I’ve remembered my covenant. 6 Therefore tell the Israelites:
“I am God. I will bring you out from under the cruel hard labor of Egypt. I will rescue you from slavery. I will redeem you, intervening with great acts of judgment. 7 I’ll take you as my own people and I’ll be God to you. You’ll know that I am God, your God who brings you out from under the cruel hard labor of Egypt. 8 I’ll bring you into the land that I promised to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and give it to you as your own country. I AM God.”

Psallm 12:5 Into the hovels of the poor,
Into the dark streets where the homeless groan, God speaks:
“I’ve had enough; I’m on my way To heal the ache in the heart of the wretched.”

...God doesn't have favourites! He heard Israel's cry! He heard David's cry! Why won't he hear yours? ...

Isaiah 59:1 Look! Listen! God’s arm is not amputated—he can still save. God’s ears are not stopped up—he can still hear.

Deuteronomy 1:17 Don’t play favorites; treat the little and the big alike; listen carefully to each. Don’t be impressed by big names. This is God’s judgment you’re dealing with.

Psalm 34:15 God keeps an eye on his friends, his ears pick up every moan and groan.

...He just wants us to pray and moan TO HIM and HIM alone. Face it there usually isn't much anyone else can do to help you and people may not say it to your face but if you are always moaning, they do get fed up of listening to you; Whereas to Him, your honest and desperate and continuous moans are better than a hallelujah sometimes ...

Acts 7: 33 “God said, ‘Kneel and pray. You are in a holy place, on holy ground. 34 I’ve seen the agony of my people in Egypt. I’ve heard their groans. I’ve come to help them. So get yourself ready;

.... You know what I also find amazing is that there is no compulsion, obligation or pressure for you to even know what to say or how to pray...

Romans 8: 26 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. 27 He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. 28 That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

... So please, let's not take for granted Jesus sacrifice on the cross to bring us this close to God, making Him our father and friend, one who waits to hear our moans...

Psalm 35:1 Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be— you get a fresh start, your slate’s wiped clean. 2 Count yourself lucky—
God holds nothing against you and you’re holding nothing back from him. 3 When I kept it all inside, my bones turned to powder, my words became daylong groans. 4 The pressure never let up; all the juices of my life dried up. 5 Then I let it all out; I said, “I’ll make a clean breast of my failures to God.”
Suddenly the pressure was gone—my guilt dissolved, my sin disappeared. 6 These things add up. Every one of us needs to pray; when all hell breaks loose and the dam bursts we’ll be on high ground, untouched.

HAPPY EASTER
Refs from MSG bible version
...Better than a hallelujah sometimes..
S.O.

Hello! This is a reply to the "anonymous" person who said (back on March 20th) that he or she wants to believe in God but finds that the problem of evil is a stumbling block to his or her faith.

I've been a Christian for over 30 years, and yet I agree with you that the problem of evil can make belief in God very difficult. Indeed, life is hard, and we all hurt and weep at times...and wonder, "God, where are you? Why did you let this happen?" In fact, many people in Scripture struggled with the same issues. A clear example of this can be found in the biblical book of Psalms—over forty percent of them are laments!

You seem like a very intelligent person who has given this much thought. And, as you know, the problem of evil comes in more than one version, such as the logical version (which you articulated very well in your post), the probabilistic version, and the emotional version. Each version is given somewhat different responses. So, if it's okay with you, I'd like to recommend a few books that have helped me in this area when my faith is struggling:

1.) "God, Freedom, & Evil" by Alvin Plantinga. Written in the mid-1970's, Plantinga makes a very compelling and philosophically sophisticated case for the coexistence of evil and an all-good, all-powerful God. If you're into rigorous philosophy, Plantinga is your guy. In fact, because of Plantinga's efforts, the vast majority of philosophers today (even atheistic ones) have abandoned the logical version of the problem of evil, and have instead turned to the probabilistic version, stating that because evil exists, God's existence is highly improbable.

2.) "Making Sense of Suffering" by Peter Kreeft. I love this book. Kreeft is a philosopher at Boston College who does a wonderful job of combining the rational with the artistic. He does a really nice job of blending philosophy and theology (especially the biblical book of Job) to make his case.

3.) "When God Weeps: Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty" by Joni Eareckson Tada. Joni (pronounced "Johnny") is a woman who at the age of 17 suffered a diving accident that made her a quadriplegic. Now 60, she has had a lot of time to wrestle with this issue on a personal level. As you could imagine, she offers some profound and comforting insights.

Of course, these aren’t the only good books out there that discuss this rather difficult subject. But, I believe these three will be well worth your time.

A quick postscript before I go: One of the main reasons why I remain a Christian is because at the center of Christianity stands a God who suffers, and who knows firsthand what we go through. Dorothy Sayers beautifully makes this point:

“For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is — limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death — He had the honesty and the courage to take His own medicine. Whatever game he is playing with His creation, He has kept his own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from man that He has not exacted from Himself. He has Himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair and death. When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile.”

Yes, you are right: the problem of evil is indeed a problem. But, because of Jesus, evil does not have the last word. So keep looking for answers, keep looking for truth, and keep seeking God. Life is hard, and I pray that you will find him. His pursuit of us is unrelenting...and no hungry heart goes unfed forever.

Sincerely,

Peter

Hi anonymous of march 20,2010. I'd like to say I understand you. I don't know if this will help but I also went through similar questions. I lead a homegroup (aka bible study group)and I've asked them similar questions. They cannot seem to understand what I mean by my questions, as they believe in God's goodness and faithfulness even when it cannot be seen. I've resolved that in my own relationship with God... and far from pushing me away, this has pulled me closer to Him and my understanding of Him. First of all, this is my answer to you: I don't know. I don't know why God allows suffering... but if there IS a God (and I believe there is), then He DOES have the power to stop it.

BUT... you must understand that our logic may be logical to us, but that logic may not hold to Him. Just as our logic may not coincide with a dog's logic (if they even think at all). We probably don't understand Him fully, because if we did, we would have figured out all the workings of the universe, so although it is hard to admit this... His thoughts are beyond our thoughts. That is really humbling to me and it helps me to terms with God's sovereignty (meaning His freedom to do whatever He wants). Most of the time, people only focus on what God's supposed to do but isn't doing. But to be God is to be sovereign. He is love, and He is all-powerful, but above all that, He is sovereign. For Him love us but not stop our hurts doesn't mean He is not all-powerful. He DOESN'T have to do anything even if He could, because He has the ability not to. And part of having faith in Him and His love is being able to come to terms with that very humbling/painful truth. That God doesn't see things our way, and we will never truly understand how He works. If you want to put it logically, someone whose mind is higher than us will have logic that OUR logic cannot make sense of. A good example will be that Albert Einstein discovered the laws of relativity. He understood it when no one else did at that moment. And probably if he never explained his logic to us, we would never have understood it until someone else came up with it. It doesn't mean relativity never existed. It's just we couldn't fathom it with our limited scope. Same with God. Unless He explains to us why He does what He does, we can never be sure of how He works. :) Hope that makes it a bit clear to you.

Also, my interpretation of the song is different than yours. :) For me, it just means that the moments when we are suffering or in pain and cry out to Him are the moments when we are most REAL. These are the moments when, whatever we say to God, hurtful or not, comes from the most intimate places of our heart. And for Him, that kind of crying out is better than the shallow hallelujahs we make when everything is going well. As Amy Grant says, God hears them as melodies... basically saying they are just like praises to Him. It's beautiful because maybe for God, our cries comes from our very hearts.

Dear Anonymous march 20 2010. How that questions haunts so many. I love the fact that you ask that question, it's so real. In my faith I have searched out these hard questions, they inspire me and help my faith grow so much deeper.I have always thought, that if your faith can't be dissected and proven that it has a beating heart than what are you doing believing in it. From a very early age I started out on this journey and have found MANY answers, even to the questions that have turned alot of people away from christianity. It is heart breaking to discover that where most of these people left off was where they just didn't follow through on there search for the right answer, as if the very thought of hoping and being dissapointed scared them and so they just gave up on their search and without completing it decide they were never going to find the answer.
I say all this because of the question you ask, I have talked to quit a few people with this question and a lot of the frustration about this dilemma is it is spoken from an "outside looking in" perspective, as if you see such pain and feel helpless, like you can't help and you mind runs wild with the pain those children must feel and soon you start to wounder where God is and why! oh Why!?
But being someone who has lost the greatest of loses, I truly know what it feels like to be in absalute agony and if only you could just see that person again. I had a younger brother of 7 suffer pain agony and torture at the hand of a very aggressive cancer he went through things that I don't tell people because ignorance is bliss and their world is a better place not knowing that a 7 year old suffered such agony and pain and torture, after a very slow and painful year God decide to take him home. And amongst all the pain that my family went through the one thing that was more real and vivid to me amongst those nights when I would be woken up outta a dead sleep to hear my mother scream out my brothers name and yell through the house to my brothers and sister to start prayer because my brother couldn't breath, (the cancer would suficate him at times, it had cause a fluid build up in his lungs)or when we would all pretend to sleep but we all were kept up by his crying in pain. What was more real to me through all this in the mist of suffering and loss was how real and tangible God was and how for the next couple years after my brothers death the only way I can describe it is that I felt like i was held in the strongest, warmest, and MOST LOVING HUG I had ever felt my entire life, at times I swear I could smell Jesus. Suffering is hard, but after going through it God becomes more real then anything. To really feel that crippling pain is the begining of the greatest love we are cappable of feeling. I can only imaging what my brothers gets to experience being in the arms of Jesus. God be with you on the search for answers, you will find them ; ) God bless

To the comment left earlier about the genuineness of God's love. God is an all good and all powerful God who allows us as his children to have free will. He wants to know how genuine our love and desperation for him is. It is like a oasis in the middle of a desert and a man dying from dehydration. Does the water come to the man? The man must seek first the water to quench his thirst.The same is true with our Lord. There are many things in this world that try to pull us away from our Father and those include trials and tribulations, addictions and ect. I do not know personally what made you turn away from your faith but I can tell you it was not something of God. I have been through addictions and I have watched good young people die. I blamed God at the time. But I came to realize that God can and he WILL heal his children if they have the Faith in him. "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can move mountains." Look at the story of Jesus walking on water, When he summoned Peter, as peters eyes were on Jesus, Peter too could walk on water. But when he looked away and saw the waves crashing around him, he saw himself starting to sink. Peter lost sight of where he was going and began to see where he was.In deep water surrounded by darkness. he saw that he, himself could not walk on water alone. He lost faith in Jesus and it was shown. The same is with us. I have seen people who were healed from blindness as well as paralysis. I have also seen people who had a close relationship with the Lord fall to the ways of the world. The beautiful thing is, is that no matter how far we think we stray from God, he is right there when we turn around and accept his love and the gift of his salvation. No, the world is not perfect and people do suffer.Jesus suffered. And as children of God we are called to end that suffering. We are called to give what we can, heal in Jesus name, and tell people of the Holy Spirit and show them that by the power of the Holy Spirit, they too can work miricles. God is not a magician, he does not work by the words we say or the touch of our hands. He Works by the Holy Spirit that dwells within our soul. If we allow him to use us as his hands and feet, anything is possible with the power of Jesus Christ. Because he is that Powerful. I am not claiming to be perfect. I am a wreched sinner who often falls to the wiles of this world. But I am justified and sanctified ONLY by the blood of Jesus Christ.
My personal beleif in natural Suffering is that it comes form the Generational curses that scripture mentions numerous times. In the book of Exodus, during the time of moses God liberated his people from the egyptians during the reign of pharoh and after God had given Moses the 10 commandments, and people disobeyed them, God had concequences. In Exodus 32, God's people are pulled from those who turned from the Lord and the people who worshipped idols were killed. The Lord told moses to command the people to do the killing "Go through the camp killing your relitives, your friends and your neighbors." God was calling for anyone whois against him to be killed.
Lamentations 5:7, "Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne (been punished for) their iniquities."
I believe that the reason for generational curses is Because of God's bitter hatred for sin. God knows that our children mean most to us so in this case, when we sin we are not only condeming ourselves but those we love most as well. That is why the entire human race fell to the sin of Adam (because of the generational curse). We became mortal and were given the knowledge of what is truly evil, As well as the sense of pain.
However, God loved us so much that he became man to sacrifice himself as reconciliation for our sin as well as the sin of our mothers and fathers. When we accept Jesus and invite him into our hearts, the spiritual bondages are broken entirely and we are washed clean because Jesus became that curse.
Galatians 3:13, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:"
If you would like to talk more about it or if you have any questions, Please email me at Irishangel777@gmail.com . My name is Jessica and I would love to talk to you more about why God allows suffering in the world or anything else.Have a good night!

Hello,

Perhaps someone can help me understand something. I used to be a believer. And a big part of me wants to be a believer. So I don't mean to cause trouble, I'm just lost. As this song points out (inadvertently perhaps), there is a very serious (ancient and still unresolved) problem:

1) If God is all-powerful, then God would be *able* to stop suffering (of, for instance, wholly innocent children).

2) If God is all-good, then God would *want* to stop suffering (of, for instance, wholly innocent children).

3) But suffering (of, for instance, wholly innocent children) clearly exists. In fact suffering is ubiquitous (as this song make clear).

4) Therefore, God cannot be both all-powerful and all-good. (Either God is utterly indifferent to our suffering, and is not all-good; Or God is incapable of stopping suffering, so is not all-powerful. Putting it bluntly, God is either too too cruel or too weak to stop it.)

As much as I like Amy Grant, her lyrics make this problem even worse, as though God actually takes pleasure in, gets a kick out of, our suffering. (Very troubling.)

I suppose some will be angry at me for expressing this. But if so, you are misunderstanding my intentions. It is a logically valid proof (proofs are extremely rare, but this is one of them). And I have to be honest with myself, I simply cannot put my head in the sand. Given my desire to be a believer, you can consider this a personal crisis on my part. And if there is a genuine answer to it, I would very much like to hear it. (Unfortunately, saying that the devil causes suffering, only leads to the same conclusion. And citing freewill does nothing to address natural suffering: childhood cancer, starvation, childhood psychosis, innocent children being slaughtered in horrible natural disasters (for centuries and centuries), etc.)

Thank you in advance for any compassionate and sincere responses.

Peace.

Oh, the message! Thank you, Father, that You desire to hold us & sustain us through our tough times & pain! How else could we possibly make it? We are still humans, and we do make a mess of things sometimes, but praise God, we are beautiful to You, even in our mess. We will never be free from sickness, disease, poverty, death, and Hell as long as we live on this sinful earth, but because of Christ I know that there is the hope of Heaven. Amazing song!

I love this song it's full of love & grace. This song just reminds me of God's character..longing for the prodigal son to return home to him, longing for relationship with us, not just empty words sung to him out of tradition, but heartfelt meaningful communion with him is what He desires from us.

Really do not like this song.. its full of unbelief. God never likes these sounds better than praise. EVER. His son was beaten beyond what our imagination can grasp, then crucified for OUR sin. He did all this so we could be free from sickness, disease, poverty, death and Hell.. and she wants to sing how God is pleased with anything less than praise after all he's done. Disgusted by this song.

Wow! what an amazing song. What an amazing voice. When I first heard the song all I really heard was the beauty of Amy Grant's voice. Then today I actually listened to the lyrics, it's an amazing message. What an awesome way to look at our awesone God!!