Somewhere Beautiful

Our Sunday School class has started a study of the Book of Proverbs.  Proverbs is primarily the account of Solomon, who is generally considered to be the wisest, most powerful and most successful man who has ever lived.  As Matt Chandler says, any level of success, wealth, power, etc. that any of us achieve in this life is junior varsity-level compared to what Solomon achieved.  So what were the conclusions of this man who has seen, done, and had more than we will ever know?  Two things we can summarize from his writings in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes:

1.  Wisdom is to be sought and cherished above all else (and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom); and

 

2.  Seeking to fill the hole in our hearts by the acquisition of things or the achievement of earthly success and wealth is ultimately meaningless and never satisfies.

The "Wisdom Literature" in the Bible holds a storehouse of the Lord's instruction.  If only we would read it and follow it, oh the pain, heartache, wasted time and effort, broken relationships, etc. that we could avoid!

But the reality of our brokenness is that there are many things we just can't (or won't) learn by reading or hearing the words of others.  Our stubbornness and self-worship leads us to try things countless others have tried and which turned out badly.  Why do we follow such a foolish path?  If we are honest in answering this, it is because we think we are so immensely awesome that we will succeed where other lesser beings have failed.  Um, right.

Below are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs.  I think the words perfectly illustrate the frustration felt by an older, wiser, more experienced person watching others walk the same paths they walked.  They know how that story ends, and would dearly love to prevent others from making those same mistakes.  They've discovered something much more and much better, and are desperately trying to steer others toward what they have found the hard way.  Insert whomever you wish as the narrator of these words: an older person watching kids on the street, a parent watching their child, or God watching us.  The words ring true in all cases.

Somewhere Beautiful

Looking down at the strip from my hotel room,
It must be a full moon, cause their all out tonight
All the insecure boys in their muscle cars,
Young girls in their pushup bras under neon lights,
They come here for freedom, freedom from anything
And for miles and miles down this road, you can hear them sing
With their voices, and their engines, and their pounding radios
It seems like round here, no one knows

No one knows that there’s more
Beyond these dead skies and these filthy streets
Take my hand and let me pull you
Out of the blindness of your weary soul
To somewhere beautiful
To somewhere beautiful

Is there any way to learn from what you’ve been told
Or do you really have to hold the experience?
Cause you can hear me now, and come out clean
Trust me, I could spare you the consequence
I can tell by your eyes, that there ain’t no getting through
Cause you’re hell bent on doing exactly what you’ve gotta do
So welcome to a long line of sinners and saints
Is there anyone around here who ain’t

Don’t you know that there’s more
Beyond these dead skies and these filthy streets
Take my hand, and let me pull you
Out of the blindness of your weary soul
To somewhere beautiful
To somewhere beautiful

Don’t you know that there’s more
Beyond these dead skies and all these filthy streets
So take my hand, let me pull you
Out of the blindness of your weary soul
To somewhere beautiful
To somewhere beautiful
Yeah, to somewhere beautiful…