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Tommy taught me a new word as I awakened us in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday so that I could write down the poem going through my head. Since he was awake, I asked him,
"What is the word for when two contradictory things are going on at once, but both are true/both are real?"
About the time I was thinking of the word "paradox," the strangest word came out of Tommy's mouth (and yes, this was very early on a Saturday morning!).
He answered, "Antinomy"!
I said I have never heard of that word! He laughed and said,
"Well, you didn't grow up going to Bible Studies led by Ken Boa!"(Ken Boa is an amazing expositor of Scripture {look on Amazon for many of Boa's books.} In Ken's early years, he came to Knoxville and worked in close association with Tommy's uncle, Matt Prince who started "New Life," which became a world-wide organization reaching out into homes to teach people about Christ in a way that Uncle Matt coined as "friendship evangelism.")
So when I went to look this strange word up, none of the ten dictionaries we have in our house had it listed, so Tommy pulls out a paperback dictionary he used in college, and there it was. Have any of you ever heard of this word before? Here is its definition:
Antinomy: a contradiction between two seemingly true statements;
Web definition: the mutual incompatibility, real or apparent, of two laws
We are faced with a seemingly "mutual incompatibility," facing our child's death which is heavy-laden with extreme and complicated grief for the child-loss parent, and yet rejoice in her being in the presence of her Lord. How can this be? How can one grieve and rejoice too? It is a seemingly impossible feat.
We are having to face the dire fact of her death which is like walking through Hell, while we are also attempting to peer into Heaven to "see" our child as she really is now; otherwise we are left staring in the face of her violent death every day (back to Hell).
God in His Word tells us to grieve, but not as one who has no hope. So our grief helps us face her death and mourn our great loss of her while our faith helps us look up and "see" with the eyes of faith the glorious surroundings in which our precious baby is living now!
My faith can rest in the vision of seeing our Lord saving our precious child, being with her every day, taking great delight over her, singing over her, quieting her with His love, and rejoicing over her! With that vision, I can indeed "grieve, but not as one with no hope." (See scriptures below my poem.)
Love's Antinomy:
Learning to Live with Contradiction in Grief
If He draws near and calls your name,
Who am I my child, to complain?
And yet my Lord loves me the same,
And bids me cry out 'gainst Death's bane
that struck you down amidst your youth,
forbidst you have a fighting chance!
He bids me hate Vile One uncouth,
E'en as I rejoice you're at th' Dance,
for God would never let you go
out of His hands, He loves you so!
Love calls me into paradox:
Welcome Life! ~ Hate Death's Evil Pox!
Though Death's destruction we do mourn,
We adore One who bore its thorn
That we may live and love again
God and loved ones ~ His Glorious Plan!
*****
"The LORD your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with his love,
He will rejoice over you with singing."
~Zephaniah 3:17 NIV
Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant
about those who fall asleep,
or to grieve like the rest of men,
who have no hope.
We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.
~I Thessalonians 4:13- 18
The Lord your God is in the midst of you,
a Mighty One, a Savior [Who saves]!
He will rejoice over you with joy;
He will rest [in silent satisfaction]
and in His love He will be silent
and make no mention [of past sins, or even recall them];
He will exult over you with singing.
~Zephaniah 3:17 (Amplified Version)
"But for you who revere my name,
the sun of righteousness will rise with healing
in its wings. And you will go out and leap
like calves released from the stall."
~Malachi 4:2 NIV
Let them praise His name with dancing
and make music to Him with tambourine and harp.
For the LORD takes delight in His people...
~Psalm 149:3-4a NIV
Then God will rejoice over you
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.
~Isaiah 62:5 NLT
"I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people;
And there will no longer be heard in her
The voice of weeping and the sound of crying."
~Isaiah 65:19 NASB
The following song is a great song that declares this Biblical truth that our Lord rejoices over us and even sings over us! (I had never heard this song before either, but I just found it on YouTube, and I love it!) The video is precious too as it shows Jesus loving on children much like mine and your children!
~Trevor Morgan
The Lord your God is with you.
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you.
He will quiet you with His love.
chorus:
He will rejoice over you with singing.
He will rejoice over you with His song.
He will rejoice over you with singing.
He will rejoice over you with His song.
The Lord your God is with you.
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you.
He will quiet you with His love.
He will rejoice over you with singing.
He will rejoice over you with His song.
He will rejoice over you with singing.
He will rejoice over you with His song.
And through the night (in your darkest hour),
When you are tired (and you've lost all hope),
He will hold you tight.
He will rejoice over you with singing.
He will rejoice over you with His song.
He will rejoice over you with singing.
He will rejoice over you with His song.
He will rejoice.
He will rejoice.
He will rejoice.
He will rejoice.
He will rejoice!
*****
He puts a ring on our finger,
kills the fatted calf, throws a party,
shouts a shout that shakes the ends of creation,
and leads in the festal dance.
~John Piper, sermon, "The Lord will rejoice over you."
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