2009-01-06T19:58:00.001-08:00

If you've found your way here, you may already know that my name is Bill and I enjoy writing songs about God. If you did not know that, well now you do. I hope to be faithful with the songs I write. I'm not sure I know how to do that, but I think this website is a start. It contains the lyrics, chord charts, mp3's, even the stories behind the songs. And it is all free to you. So look around. Enjoy. And thanks for stopping by.

2009-01-06T18:37:00.000-08:00

(back to album) / (back to music)

So Much Pain

download chord chart // download mp3

(verse 1)
I understand the need
The price had to be paid for sinful man to be redeemed

I understand the death
There’s no other way, blood had to be shed

(chorus)
Why the thorns and whip? Why the laughs and spit?
Would less a kinder death have gained?
Why the piercing spikes? Why the spear in Your side?
Why God, oh why God so much pain?

(verse 2)
I’m humbled by the thought
Amazed by the grace, Christ, You did not die for naught

I know I was not there
I did not see Your face or the cross You had to bear

(bridge)
His life, a guilt offering
His fate was sealed
Obedient in suffering
By His wounds we’re healed

(chorus 2)
You did it all for me, the whole of Calvary
Every crushing blow was for my gain
Wonderful mystery, that death means victory
And a loving God endured so much pain

-------------------------------------------------------

Based on the Old Testament sacrificial system, I can understand Christ's death. In order for sins to be atoned, blood had to be shed. I get that.

But what I do not understand is why the death of Christ had to be so ugly and brutal. When an animal was sacrificed under the Old Testament law, its throat was cut and its blood was spilled. There was no beating, no scourging, no mocking.

Why did God choose that time and that place...first century, Roman occupied Judea...for his Son to be sacrificed? Did God know that his death would be so hate-filled and sadistic? Wasn't the blood enough? Why did it have to be shed in such an excruciating and drawn out manner?

It is a mystery to me, an absolute mystery.

Isaiah 53 speaks into that mystery. It doesn't answer every question, but it does take the pain of that day two thousand years ago and make it personal. It was for you. It was for me.

By His wounds we are healed.

Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors. - Isaiah 53