Cruel to be Kind

[...this is really a continuation from prior blog post, Correcting Rebuke...]

On the same day that I was awakened with the insect bite, I was making a phone call and was put on hold.  An “oldie but goodie” song came on briefly and quickly went off as I was switched to another extension – I don’t remember what it was but I was surprised to hear it instead of classical or other instrumental music. My foot began to itch where I had been bitten, and to hurt where it was swelling inside of my shoe.  I was asking the Lord if that had really been necessary to get me up, though I conceded with a smile that it was certainly effective.

Psalm 141:1-5, New King James Version (NKJV)

            Prayer for Safekeeping from Wickedness
            A Psalm of David.

Lord, I cry out to You;
Make haste to me!
Give ear to my voice when I cry out to You.
² Let my prayer be set before You as incense,
The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

³ Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;
Keep watch over the door of my lips.
⁴ Do not incline my heart to any evil thing,
To practice wicked works
With men who work iniquity;
And do not let me eat of their delicacies.

⁵ Let the righteous strike me;
It shall be a kindness.
And let him rebuke me;
It shall be as excellent oil;
Let my head not refuse it.

Proverbs 27:5-6, 9 New King James Version (NKJV)

            ⁵ Open rebuke is better
             Than love carefully concealed.

⁶ Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

⁹ Ointment and perfume delight the heart,
And the sweetness of a man’s friend gives delight by hearty counsel.

Immediately I was put back on hold and the song “Cruel to be kind” came on.  I cracked up laughing.  As soon as I got off of the phone, I got on the internet and looked up the song on youtube.

I found the original, but then a more current version that I liked more:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a30Uo5sJWSQ – this was done as part of a show (Live from Daryl’s House) that was new to me.  I looked at some other episodes of these, choosing some for the guest artist and some for the song being performed.  In all of them that I watched, I was so thankful to God for His gift of music, of sound, of hearing, and for the joy of making and sharing in the music that seemed so evident on these shows.  I heard some “old” (i.e. familiar) songs performed by “new” people (people I didn’t know or hadn’t heard perform these particular songs) and some “new” (previously unknown to me) songs performed by artists with which I was familiar.

Matthew 13:52, New King James Version (NKJV)
52 Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

 So I’m just sharing in this joy, in this music, in this gracious gift of God, and hear the song, “That’s the Way I Feel About Cha” performed by Daryl Hall and band with Monte Montgomery, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7izBLEoZHs.  Monte’s vocals (from 3:51 to 4:17), had a harmony that struck me differently at that moment, and it was just like the Lord was affirming ... to me ... yet again His love ... for me.

Romans 5:6-8, New King James Version (NKJV)
 Christ in Our Place
6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

… and He says, “That’s the way I feel about cha” …

John 14:6, New King James Version (NKJV)
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Romans 8:31-32, New King James Version (NKJV)
God’s Everlasting Love
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

… and He says, “That’s the way I feel about cha” …

Romans 8:33-37, New King James Version (NKJV)
33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:
 “For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

… and He says, “That’s the way I feel about cha” …

Romans 8:38-39, New King James Version (NKJV)
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 Jeremiah 31:3, New King James Version (NKJV)
The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

… and He says, “That’s the way I feel about cha” …

1 John 4:10, King James Version (KJV)
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

… and He says, “That’s the way I feel about you” …

SONG: How He Loves, by David Crowder Band - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCunuL58odQ&ob=av2e

… and my journey with Him continues …