Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me...

Ever caught yourself singing familiar hymns on autopilot? In this moving reflection, Chris Friend shares how a sudden family health crisis transformed the words of 10,000 Reasons into a vital lifeline

I don’t know about you, but there are some worship songs that I sing and can become really complacent about the words. While many people count sheep by means of drifting off, as a funeral director for the best part of two decades, I could go to sleep with Abide With Me playing like an irritating earworm as I entered the land of nod.

Equally, I could wake up to a Morning Has Broken refrain bouncing between my ears! Some songs in general stick with us because they define a period in our lives, a poignant moment, a line in the sand, a new start.

I could tell you about the time as a teenager that I played We Built This City by Starship ad infinitum. So much so, the tape eventually gave up the ghost as it got ‘eaten’ by the recorder. Images of me singing with a hairbrush all while standing in front of the mirror are best left to one side. You don’t need that as you’re chewing on your cornflakes.

10,000 Reasons is one such song that is easy for me to sing without really focusing on the words and yet, in recent weeks, the line 'whatever may pass and whatever lies before me’ has become quite poignant.

For while away on a family break, Caroline became really unwell and ended up needing to have surgery in hospital. She’s recuperating now, but it brought a juddering halt to our time away.

As she reflected with me later, in the midst of everything distressing, she was aware of the sun rising in the east over our little Norfolk cottage. Hence the song. And, while I can easily sing ‘the sun comes up it’s a new day dawning ’, I found myself sitting with 'whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes.'

And, as I reflected on our situation, I thought about others who were needing to lean hard into the God of the Valley who promises to walk with us through the ‘whatever may pass ’, however difficult, painful, overwhelming and heartbreaking that journey may be.

I’ve little doubt that for all his amazing pioneering adventures in Northumbria, Aidan and others after him would know days just like this, because that’s just the way life is at times. Jesus is not a bridge over troubled waters, but He is a pathway through them.

Three times Paul had to plead with God to remove a ‘thorn in his side ’, and each time God said, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, My strength is made perfect in your weakness’.

We are not immune to suffering, but I’ve little doubt that our faith, trust and confidence in our Heavenly Father can become stronger through times of trial and grief. But, oh my goodness, it doesn’t feel like that at the time! It’s only afterwards, as we look back, that we can see God’s Hand.

So, the next time you sing that song, reflect on those words, maybe ask God to bring people to mind who need your intercession. Take a moment to pray as the Spirit guides you that the Lord will be near to the broken-hearted and that they will be given strength to rise like eagles; to sing the truth of God at the end of the day with whatever has passed and whatever lies before.
 

Chris Friend is the Mission & Pioneer Development Facilitator with the Northern Baptist Association, where this reflection first appeared. It is republished with permission. Chris is co-minister of Alnwick Baptist Church alongside his wife, Caroline.