Can you believe that we are on the cusp of 2020? I can remember as a youngster counting up how old I would be when the turn of the century in 2000 would be and now we are staring at 20 years past that! Ain't it funny how time slips away?
Welcome to Tuesday and Tuesday's Musical Notes where pondering for wisdom with a soundtrack of the best music of all times is normal, in fact, it is highly encouraged and recommended!
The Notes are not trying to rush things. We still have three more wonderful months left in 2019 and we really should make the most of those by living in the moment. But 2020 marks a time gap in several ways. As we stated before, we are now 20 years into the new century. That makes anything happening in the 90s twenty plus years ago! Including today's featured song from 1995, yup that's 25 years for those keeping track, here's Natalie Merchant with the 25-year-old song (well 25 years in 9 months, (Tigerlilly released in June of 1995)), "Jealousy"!
Merchant's most successful solo album after leaving the band 10,000 Maniacs was her debut record Tigerlily. It boasted 3 Top 40 singles ("Carnival" (#10), "Wonder" (#20), and today's song "Jealousy" (#23)). Tigerlily is a rare album in that it was written, performed, and produced by its featured artist, Natalie Merchant. Even though she was offered advance money by her record label, she declined in order to retain creative control as well as choose the musicians who would perform on the album. This formula worked well for her as Tigerlily sold five million copies and went to #13 on Billboard's Top 200 Album chart.
"Jealousy" was the 3rd and final single released from Tigerlily. As its title would suggest, it is a song written from the perspective of one who has been cast aside in a relationship that just ended. With raw emotion and an evocative lyric, "Jealousy" sums up the perspective from a questioning vantage point while providing the necessary disdain.
Jealousy is an emotion in which many songs have been written. Poems, plays and other artistic endeavors have attempted to capture the feelings of sadness and resentment that seem to partner the enviousness of folks. A picture is worth a thousand words:
This is a painting from 1874 by British artist Haynes King. It seems to sing the lyric of today's song. "And is she the sort that you've always said could satisfy your head?"
Rarely is jealousy associated with a good outcome. The Bible is replete with examples. Can you think of any?
One case is found in Genesis 16 where we see a prime example of jealousy rearing its green, ugly head. The difficulty with this example is that there was no need for it to happen. Let's take a look: Genesis 16 New American Standard Bible/The Message paraphrase of the Bible/King James Version of the Bible parallel.
Last week we touched on the promises of God ALWAYS coming true. Abraham was promised a son. This promise came from God. Yet we see in chapter 16 that something happened. Either Abraham did not give Sarah the heads up on God's promise, or Abraham and Sarah were impatient and attempted to take matters into their own hands.
Sarah had a maid. Her name was Hagar. Hagar was considered property in the culture of the time, so what Sarah suggested wasn't as outlandish at the time as it may seem to us. Please do not misunderstand. What Sarah decided was TOTALLY against God's plan. We had already seen God describe Abraham as righteous, so for him to go along with this plan is overt disobedience on Abraham's part.
It is so easy to blame Sarah. She essentially told Abraham to have "relations" with Hagar. Abraham complied with her wishes and Hagar got pregnant. No sooner had it become evident that Hagar was pregnant, Sarah became jealous and bitter towards Hagar. The resentment that resulted certainly caused heartache for all three of the parties involved. Hagar, hesitant to bear under the continued verbal abuse, ran away. God saved her and Ishmael and told her to go back and take the abuse, for her son would be the father of his own great nation. Many believe Ishmael to be a patriarch of Islam.
Each of them was equally to blame. Sarah for the suggestion, Abraham for saying yes, and Hagar for going along with it even though it would seem that as a servant she had no choice in the matter. The resulting dysfunction in the camp would cause years of tumult and anguish and ultimately cause separation between a father and son.
Sarah's hesitancy to wait on God and the decision that resulted from that impatience ultimately placed her to be the one causing her own resentment and jealousy towards Hagar. Abraham's own impatience to "help" God's promise along and acquiescence to Sarah's wishes ultimately placed him in a position to have tension in the latter years of his life, when there was no need for there to have been. One can only imagine how Hagar felt as she had to sustain the constant abuse from her boss and raise a child under that condition.
The takeaway? We really should take time when making decisions. It is incumbent on us to be patient. We have to understand that God is in control and knows what is going on. To do this is to believe in God's omniscience and omnipresence.
I heard God's omnipresence once explained as One who was watching a parade from a building that overlooked the entire parade route. Our place in the parade is somewhere in the midst of the procession and it is difficult for us to see very far past our position. God, however, can see the entire parade. He sees the beginning, where you are, and the end. (Thanks Sam for the illustration!!!) As we are patient and trust the One who knows the outcome of our route, we can rest assured that He will never lead us astray. Our role? Stay on the course in which He has placed us and not let envy or jealousy of those in other positions inform our decision making.
"Ooh, my jealousy..."
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving You,
randy
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