The Place We Stand
Song nine on The Calling of a Priest
The Place We Stand. (John 21:21-22; 1 Cor. 12:4-7; 1 Cor. 7:1; Gen. 1:27-28, 31). The main passages for this song are John 21:21-22 and 1 Cor. 12:4-7, but 23 Oct. 2005 while reading 1 Cor. 7. I wrote down “it is good for a man not to marry" and then immediately wrote down “and it is good for a man to take a wife” remembering that in Proverbs it says that he who finds a wife finds a good thing, and that in Gen. 1 God created man and woman, blessed them, told them to be fruitful and multiply, and said that it was good.(and then I wrote the rest of it).
It seems that there is a contradiction - and yet there isn't. One person has one call and gifts, and another person may have different call and gifts, and both are good. He calls us down a variety of roads - roads that we follow to be true to His call on us, all containing various difficulties and blessings. (There are also roads that are sin, but. that's not what I'm talking about.) Sometimes it's hard not to be jealous of another's gifts and calling, to feel like someone else's life is easier or better, it may look to our eyes more blessed or more fulfilling. But everyone, all of our individual callings can be very painful places to be and also are filled with great blessing. We aren't to compare , but to follow the road He has called each of us down, to walk through all the pain with Him, and rejoice in all the blessings. This is what He did. And one day, we will get to see all of it from His perspective, all these pains and struggles and sorrows on this journey with, will look so different. I hope that even now I am beginning to see my place from His perspective more and more.
A friend of mine suggested that I should end the last chorus saying “the pain that we must bear for now is being drowned in what we gain.” I really liked that. I had already recorded the song with “will be drowned” and couldn't re-do it, but when I sing it now, I sing that line in the last chorus - because it's true, it all will be drowned in what we gained, and IS ALREADY being drowned in what we are already gaining as we walk with Him.
The Place We Stand Lyrics
It is good for a man not to marry
And it is good for a man to take a wife
One has this gift, another has that
And both can make for a rich life
When our hearts are humble before Him
In all we do and say and choose
Each must go where God leads him
Each must live as God calls him to
It is good for a man to go far away
And it is good for a man to stay home
One has this call, another has that
And both can leave him feeling alone
And in both are blessings without measure
They are found in each and every one
Each must go where God leads him
And trust and God calls him on
That there are blessings in every calling
Though all are laced with pain
The pain that we must bear for now
Will be drowned in what we gain
And even wrong turns can be used for good
He can use it all to give life
And we won't recognize the place where we stood
When we see it through His eyes
Yeah, we'll be surprised at the place where we stood
When we see it through His eyes
It is good for a man to choose a road
And it is good for him to walk down it
Though another road may be just as good
You know you just can't choose it
But when our hearts are humble before Him
In all we do and say and choose
Each will go where God leads him
Each will live as God calls him to
And there are blessings in every calling
Though all are laced with pain
The pain that we must bear for now
Will be drowned in what we gain
And even wrong turns can be used for good
He can use it all to give life
And we won't recognize the place where we stood
When we see it through His eyes
Yeah, we'll be surprised at the place where we stood
When we see it through His eyes
So stand tall in the pain of the place you're in
And don't desire or despise the place of other men
It's just other blessings and other pain
Other sufferings, other things to be gained
And there are blessings in every calling
Though all are laced with pain
The pain that we must bear for now
Will be drowned in what we gain
And even wrong turns can be used for good
He can use it all to give life
And we won't recognize the place where we stood
When we see it through His eyes
Yeah, we'll be surprised at the place where we stood
When we see it through His eyes
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