John Mayer and Deuteronomy

So, I was driving the other day and listening to John Mayer dominate all that is the guitar, and life was good. There’s this song on his CD, Continuum, called “The Heart of Life”; it’s a very endearing song and the chorus goes likes this, “Pain throws your heart to the ground. Love turns the whole thing around. No, it won’t all go the way it should, but I know the heart of life is good.” This threw my mind into a tailspin, in a good way of course.
There seems to be this understanding amongst the human race, at least the part of the human race that I’m familiar with, that the way things are aren’t the way things are supposed to be. People, no matter what they believe about God or don’t’ believe about God, can take an honest look at the state of the world and how people behave and interact with one another, and say to some extent that it’s not exactly right. For instance, people are becoming more and more interested in social justice. You can buy clothes and etc. that go towards a beautiful cause, you can watch television shows about fixing up a house for a family who desperately needs it, or you can wear a rubber bracelet around your wrist letting everyone know what you stand for. Those bracelets rip the hair off my arms. All that to be said it seems that people can recognize that the state of the world is not the state that it should be, or the state that it could be. You can’t watch the news, or read the paper and not hear about some horrible thing happening to some undeserving person and have something well up inside of you and scream, “That’s not right!” Again, this understanding is not limited to Bible believing Christians. I was at a music festival last December, it was not a Christian music festival, I promise. I remember this one band who after talking about some incredible vulgar things described with an impressive assortment of cuss words say, “This song is for all you out there who recognize that the world is not the way its supposed to be and who want to see it different.” I remember thinking, “hey, that’s me too.”
So, if we can recognize that the world is not the way its supposed to be, then does that mean that somewhere deep down inside of us we know in some way that there is a way it’s…supposed to be? It seems that is what John is getting at in his song. I don’t think he would mind if I called him John. Maybe he’s saying, “This world is painful, but behind it all there is good that can be discovered.” See, by recognizing that the state of the world isn’t the state that it was intended to be means that there is something we have to be comparing it to. Perhaps, the way it…was intended to be?
This all makes me wonder if John was reading Deuteronomy while writing this song. I doubt it, but check this out. Concerning the law that was given to the people, the Ten Commandments, God says, “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not in heaven, so that you have to ask, ‘who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask ‘Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.” The way we were supposed to live isn’t something that is out of reach or beyond our understanding; it’s there inside of us.
See God’s law wasn’t intended to be something that enslaved us, or kept us from life. No, it was meant to show us how life was truly meant to be. Later in chapter 32, Deuteronomy says, “They are not just idle words for you-they are your life.”
There is no doubt in my mind that this world is not the way it was meant to be. It is a dark place and horrible things do happen. But just imagine. Imagine what it would be like if we did live the way it was intended to be. That’s what Jesus came to do. He came to forgive, but not only to forgive, but to also enable us to live the life that God intended his people to live and to escape the slavery of sin. Check out 2nd Peter chapter 1:3-4. “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them YOU MAY PARTICIPATE IN THE DIVINE NATURE AND ESCAPE THE CORRUPTION IN THE WORLD CAUSED BY EVIL DESIRES.” The divine nature. That sounds something like the way life should be. That sounds like something I would like to be a part of.
Do you see what could happen? What this world could be like? What life could be like? Jesus came to redeem us, forgive us, and then enable us to live life the way it was meant to be. This world is dark, but I don’t think it has to be. Here are some words of hope found later in 2nd Peter chapter one. Peter is speaking of God’s word, and of the truth given to us in it. It’s beautiful for people who understand that the world is not the way it should be, but who also believe and have hope that God has not only forgiven us, but has also enabled us to live the way we were intended to live. Enjoy. “And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, AS TO A LIGHT SHINNING IN A DARK PLACE, UNTIL THE DAY DAWNS AND THE MORNING STAR RISES IN YOUR HEARTS.”