Resolution Revisited
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about an annoying habit of mine. How I want things to resolve in songs, in life, with God. As a case in point is a bluesy song called “The Waiting Room” by Six Pence None the Richer (lyrics below). This group writes some very challenging poetry set to music. Most times, you have to sit down with the words, then listen to how it is sung to understand the meaning. On this particular album, you have to pay attention to songs at the end of the whole album to make sense of the earlier ones.
Review aside, this song bugged me for a long time, simply because it didn’t resolve right. Most songs, most music ends on a nice chord that lets you know that the song is over. However, this one song does not, it ends on what I would call a hanging chord—where you are left thinking “That’s it”. There is a long and uncomfortable pause before it finally does give you a resolving chord. Like I said, this really bugged me until I figured out what the song was about.
The song is essentially about the Battles and Pain that fill this world and the Hope of the Second Coming of Christ. Our experience of this world is not what is promised but how long are we going to have to fight until that moment comes? How much longer are we going to have to contend with our enemy the devil, the Devourer? “When will it happen, Baby? It could be near, but then maybe it could be far.”
That is the reality we live with, “the waiting room of the world”. We look forward, we anticipate the Resolution that the coming of Christ will bring, but we inwardly groan and struggle while we wait for that moment to come to fruition.
Then it dawned on me that they were doing musically, exactly what the message of the song was about. The hanging chord, the uncomfortable silence, the final resolution. The thing that frustrated me about the song, is what frustrates me about the world we live in. It’s not right the way it is—and we made it so. God has promised to heal it all, to make “a new heaven & new earth” and heal the sin within us that battle with our spirit and body—everything that makes this world such a fight and struggle.
We must trust Him until that Day of Resolution comes and realize we are not showing a lack of faith when we ask—“how long?”, rather, we are showing that we really do believe His Promise to do it, we just want to be let in on the secret of when. But if “the Son” does not even know the Day or Hour, then no one this side of eternity is going to be let in on it either, and so we wait—with anticipation, with struggle, with hope and faith for Your Resolution. I know it will come… He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus
“The Waiting Room”—Six Pence None the Richer
Fight 'til your fists bleed, baby.
Beat the fate-walls enclosing you, maybe
God will unlock the cage of learning for you.
Fight 'til your fists bleed, baby.
Kick and scream at the wicked things, maybe
God will unlock the door you need to walk through.
When will it happen, baby?
It could be near, but then maybe it could be far.
Here we are in the waiting room of the world.
We will wait until You call our name out loud,
In the waiting room of the world.
We will wait until You call our name out loud.
And the battle will never end well.
You can't marry our heaven to your hell.
We, Prolific, and you, the Devourer, need to see
Some things are sacred, baby.
Why have you gone and trampled them lately?
I guess it's just all a part of your way.
You should be ashamed.
I'm getting tired of fighting.
I guess I should ask, "Do I go quietly down?
Do I kick, do I scream when I'm bound?
Are you coming to open the door? Are you near?
Are you near? Is it far?"
Here we are in the waiting room of the world.
We will wait until You call our name out loud,
In the waiting room of the world.
We will wait until You call our name out loud.
1 Peter 3:15
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