7 Days... Alessia Cara

‘’Oh, Mr. Man upstairs
I know you're tuning in up there, way up there
Would you care to answer my question?
Oh, the land of our taste
The spectacle of cut and paste
That we've made
Would you say? Please say
It was worth the seven days

Don't touch the remote
It'll be back in a moment
We are not hopeless
We are just coping
The mayhem is rolling
But it ain't showbiz
Reality's potent
Chaotic, I know it
But we're growing
Have some hope in us
And were we worth all the time you gave us?’’ – 7 Days, Alessia Cara

Wow girl. I FEEL this. Sometimes I wonder what God’s up to, just looking down at us going all crazy. Your comparison of God’s watching us to a spectator of TV captures such a raw feeling. Like, ‘’what exactly do You think of us/’’ Between mass shootings and immigration wars, import tariffs and child abuse, global warming and conservation… We are a mess.

I really like the last verse to your song. ‘’Don’t touch the remote…’’ you beg. Like you’re trying to assure God that we’ll get it right sometime soon. It’s like you’re asking Him not to worry, almost apologising for the mess – like you’re embarrassed. Ha. Who wouldn’t be? It is a pretty big mess here…

You know, I’m glad you wrote this song, asked these questions, voiced your concerns, because we all have the same thoughts too. From committed Christian to atheist, we all have times we just want to confront God and be like ‘’So… What’s the deal with this?’’ I was asking that not long ago myself.

The thing is, God likes to talk. He likes to answer our questions. He says ‘’Come now, let us reason together…Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow…’’ Isaiah 1 Though our mess is so bad, we can still be cleaned up. He’s not just talking about you, Alessia, though – He’s talking about all the mess, all the sin. Like the sin of the guy who shot 20 people in El Paso the other day. Yeah, He’ll clean that sin up and comfort the ones who got so hurt.

So, you ask ‘’He’ll go and clean up that monster’s sin, and just let him go? Great. I don’t think so…’’

 Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too. But not really. God will forgive the shooter’s sin, if, and ONLY if, he confesses his sin and is truly repentant of it.

 ‘’Oh great…’’ you say. ‘’I hope he doesn’t repent then…’’

Not so fast. God believes in justice. He says ‘’To do justice and judgement is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.’’ Proverbs 21. And he gets really tired of people just pretending to cater to Him while to evil things. He says ‘’Give me no more false offerings; the smoke of burning flesh is disgusting to me, so are your new moons and Sabbaths and your holy meetings…I am crushed under them…When your hands are stretched out to me, my eyes will be turned away from you/even though you are making prayers, I will not give ear: your hands are full of blood.’’ Yeah, He really doesn’t like evil people just trying to play the system. He sees the mess. He sees the evil. He’s watching it alright. But He’s not just sitting back. Nope. He’s watching the hearts of men.

See, God gives us the freedom of choice. We all make choices, and each choice interacts with another person. That’s why bad stuff happens to good people. Sometimes it’s not the good person’s fault – someone else made a bad choice and it hurt an innocent person. And God isn’t going to protect the good person physically all the time because sometimes that might cross the line of His free choice government.

I agree Alessia… God is complicated. He is hard to understand. But then again…He said that already. ‘’My thoughts are not your thoughts, or your ways my ways…For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.’’ Isaiah 55. But still He bids ‘’Seek and you shall find…’’ Matthew 7

So, keep asking questions, keep being real and honest – ask God stuff. Oh, and about the bad guys we see, God has a plan for justice. He understands and He says, ‘’Do not be troubled because of evil-doers, or have envy of sinners: For there will be no future for the evil man: the light of sinners will be put out.’’ Don’t worry. Justice will be served. He’s not turning off the TV.