“These Days” by Jeremy Camp

These days, my heart’s always on the run
These days, the world’s spinning out of control, oh
These days are fast and they’re furious
Feels like the worst is ahead of us, oh, oh

Sometimes it’s hard to feel at home, but

I believe that you and I
Are in the right place, at the right time
God called us by name
And He doesn’t make mistakes
I know we were born to shine bright
In a dark world that needed some light
Don’t have to be afraid
Maybe we were made for these days
Maybe we were made for these days

What if the beauty isn’t crushed?
It just needs the hope that’s inside of us, oh, oh
What if it’s more than a destiny?
What if we’re part of a masterpiece? Oh, oh

Until our Father brings us home

I believe that you and I
Are in the right place, at the right time
God called us by name
And He doesn’t make mistakes
I know we were born to shine bright
In a dark world that needed some light
Don’t have to be afraid
Maybe we were made for these days
Maybe we were made (for these days!)

‘Cause staying when it gets hard
To love with open arms
It’s something to embrace
Maybe we were made for these days

I believe that you and I
Are in the right place, at the right time
God called us by name
And He doesn’t make mistakes
I know we were born to shine bright
In a dark world that needed some light
Don’t have to be afraid
Maybe we were made for these days
Maybe we were made (for these days)

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Paul T. Duncan / Jeremy Thomas Camp / Emily Weisband / Jordan Douglas Sapp

Dear God, I woke up with this song in my head this morning. I have no idea why. It was incredibly random, and I don’t think I heard it yesterday or recently. I don’t know why it was festering in there. So I went and looked it up. I’ve listened to it several time while I was showering and getting ready to teach a Sunday school class for some friends this morning. And now I’m going to just pray about it a little and see what you might have for me through the words of these song writers.

These days, my heart’s always on the run
These days, the world’s spinning out of control, oh
These days are fast and they’re furious
Feels like the worst is ahead of us, oh, oh

I have to say that the second line of the first verse made me bristle a little. Only because I think every generations feels like theirs is the craziest, most out of control. I know some people who look back longingly at the 90s or 80, before cell phones. Others look back at the 60s and before cable TV. Other look back to the 30s and 40s when all we had was radio, although the people that remember that are getting fewer and fewer. There are whole political campaigns about returning to a previous time when things were better. But the people who lived in the 80s longed for the 60s. The people who lived in the 60s thought things were out of control and longed for the 40s. You get the idea. I’d wager I could go back to 1800 and find people who felt like the world was just getting more and more out of control. In 1000 and 1100. In Jesus’s day. I mean, even the Old and New Testaments talk about trying times. No, this is just our time, but it’s nothing that is beyond you. It’s nothing you haven’t seen coming. Is it more than we can handle? Maybe. Maybe our technology is exacerbating it all a little. Or maybe it’s just amplifying what’s been there all along.

Real quick on the last line of this first verse, I don’t like the idea that the worst is ahead of us. I mean, it very well may be, but what is the worst? My death? Okay. So be it. What is the worst? People starving and not knowing where they will get their next meal? People in danger in a war zone or living in a violent home? Drug addiction? Yes, these are all awful. But they aren’t new. Maybe what the worst that he’s feeling int his song is just the division and animosity between people. I heard a young man say the other day that the five people you keep closest to you is very important in influencing who we are. It was another way of saying what I’ve heard said and repeated myself that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. The trick with all of this media at our fingertips is that we are allowing a lot of deviant people into our sphere of influence and we don’t even realize we are doing it. It’s the slow drip that imperceptibly fills our bucket without us realizing it.

What if the beauty isn’t crushed?
It just needs the hope that’s inside of us, oh, oh
What if it’s more than a destiny?
What if we’re part of a masterpiece? Oh, oh

And here he brings the hope that comes from the first verse. And this is the answer you’ve had for the world since the beginning. You’ve called us to be your hope to the world, but it has to start inside of me. You have to be my hope. You have to be the source of my peace. You have to be the source of my mercy and love. You have to be the source of my motivation. I’m fascinated to see how your plan comes together for this world. It feels to me sometimes like you set it all in motion and we’ve been doing a fairly good job of mucking it up. But there is this thing you’ve offered us here on earth called forgiveness. It brings with is mercy and grace. It’s just about the most powerful thing we can then turn and offer the world. And it starts with your mercy and grace, your forgiveness of us. All we have to do is come to you, repent, and ask. But it’s not over at that point. The only way we get to accepting that forgiveness from you is to walk through the narrow gate and take the road less traveled. I think what’s frustrated me most about being an adult Christian is how many people I’ve invited to walk that road with me but they just won’t do it.

I believe that you and I
Are in the right place, at the right time
God called us by name
And He doesn’t make mistakes
I know we were born to shine bright
In a dark world that needed some light
Don’t have to be afraid
Maybe we were made for these days
Maybe we were made (for these days)

We are your Plan A, and you don’t have a Plan B this side of death. We carry you into this world. Will we do it well? Will I do it well? I’m grieved by what I see around me, Father. I’m grieved by the suffering of people in my immediate sphere, in the sphere of my community and country, and in the sphere of the world. And I cannot fix it all. But I’m not alone. I do, however, have a responsibility to do what you’ve called me to today. So this morning, as I prepare to teach a Sunday school class to a group that are mainly senior citizens, help me to take them a message you have for them. Love them through me. Encourage them. We have some relatives coming today. Help me to love them and receive your love from them. Be glorified through me, Father. Help me to bring at least one more person with me through the narrow gate today.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen