“Hurt” by Nine-Inch Nails [Johnny Cash]

I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that’s real

The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything

What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end

And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

I wear this crown of s*** [thorns]
Upon my liars chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair

Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here

What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end

And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

If I could start again
A million miles away
I will keep myself
I would find a way

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Trent Reznor

Dear God, I watched the video above last night about the song “Hurt.” It was written by the lead man for Nine-Inch Nails, Trent Reznor, ironically before he fell into a deep and self-destructive pattern of addiction. It was almost a premonition of what was to come. About ten years after he wrote and recorded it, Johnny Cash covered it less than a year before his death.

You’ll notice I put one word in brackets above: thorns. That’s the word that changed it from a Nine-Inch Nails song to a Johnny Cash song. Reznor was writing in hopelessness. Of just wanting to let go from all of the destruction he had caused to himself and those around him. His empire of dirt had nothing to offer anyone. Hopeless. Helpless. Those are the words that keep coming to my mind over and over again when I think about Reznor’s version.

Cash’s version, however, is possibly more about what your gospel is about than anything–any other song. YOU can have it all. Reznor is talking to the unknown “you.” The “you” who is the audience. Cash is talking to YOU.

My wife and I just watched the series “Daisy Jones and the Six,” which is based on a bestselling book my wife loves. In it, I saw a lot of empire of nothing. I saw a lot of emptiness and destruction. Self-destruction. Even one character’s sobriety was about abstaining from substances, not healing and finding healthy ways to go through life.

Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit. thank you for taking all of my…well, my empire of dirt. Thank you for hurting for me. Thank you for the hope that Cash had when he died. I’m sure he still had doubts in his heart that you could love him like he wanted to be loved. I pray that Mr. Reznor might know that hope. I pray that you will help me to share that hope with others. Yes, I will die one day. Yes, I will leave behind assets to my wife or divided among my children (should I outlive her). But it’s all a pile of dirt. There is a lot of pain mixed up in all of that. There is a lot of sin. There is a lot of selfishness. But you have set me free from it. As I sit here right now, I can sit here in peace. I can sit here knowing that shame doesn’t have to have a place in my life because of the crown of thorns you endured. Because of the nails. Because you cared. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I pray all of this through the power of this amazing gift from you,

Amen