Finding Joy in the Blues

I was riding in the car with Luke awhile back and he was playing blues music and he was telling me that even though technically blues music should be sad, it always makes him happy. Our conversation slowly drifted away from that but I kept thinking about how I've always loved blues music as I went to adoration.

As I was meditating on our crucified Lord, I started thinking about blues music again and how was as Christians are called to suffering. Blues music should be sad. The lyrics and the melody draw us into the the pain and suffering of the artist. However, that underlying rhythm is joyful somehow. It makes us happy. Just as the crucifixion is so sad and by nature we should long to forget it as we do all sad or painful things, the underlying rhythm is so gloriously happy and triumphant. Because it is ONLY through His suffering that we are able to enter into His resurrection. The closer we draw to Christ, the more we enter into His suffering. We can't separate the risen Lord from the crucified Christ. If we ONLY draw close and think about the "happy Jesus" we're rejecting the "sad Jesus. We can't. We should draw close to all of Him, even His suffering. Through His suffering (and only through that) will we see His glorious triumph to it's fullest.

To the Christian, Christ's suffering should be like a good blues song, so full of anguish yet inexplicably happy. Because we know about the resurrection. We have confidence in what is to come. In daytime prayer Psalm 26 that day was brimming with confidence in God and His justice. It says "Grant me justice Lord! I have walked without blame. In the Lord I have trusted, I have not faltered. Test me Lord and try me, search my heart and mind. Your love is before my eyes. I walk guided by your faithfulness." The psalmist is asking to be tested and tried! He wants suffering. The reason he's able to ASk for something he should naturally reject is that he keeps God's love always before his eyes.

We have to suffer to find peace. We have to suffer to know God. We have to suffer to know Christ. Its not a miserable thing though. It's like finding joy in the blues. Or like appreciating a good Merlot. At first, it's hard to because it sounds sad or tastes bitter, but the more often you experience it, the more you can come to appreciate it. Offering up our suffering doesn't come quickly or easily. It's an acquired habit. Just as we come to appreciate tangible things in life, we can also come to appreciate suffering. So go put on some good blues music and have some wine.