Monday, October 8, 2007

"in Your sea of forgetfulness"

In the absence of Sarah's post about our weekend, I might as well post something I was thinking about....Sometimes we tend to listen to music without really hearing the lyrics, there is a great beat or rhythm and we just get carried away by that and forget to hear what the song is actually saying. I know I have done that, which is why recently when I am listening to music I have really tried to listen to the lyrics and see just what the singer is saying. I was listening to the radio a few days ago and "East To West" by Casting Crowns came on. I really like Casting Crowns and I have heard this song I don't know how many times since it came out but for some reason, in the first lines of the song I heard something that got me thinking...

Here I am Lord,
and I'm drowning
in Your sea of forgetfulness

"in Your sea of forgetfulness" At first when I heard that I was like, what? The Lord does not forget those who call on His name, how can the singer be drowning in a "sea of forgetfulness"? But then I started thinking about it and I realized the song is not meant to say the Lord has forgotten about this guy. I think it is more to say he has been forgiven of his sins, the sins themselves have been cast into the "sea of forgetfulness". And yet the singer still feels like he is chained to them, therefore being with his sins in that "forgetfulness" he feels like he is drowning in his sins.....


Thinking along those lines, I thought how true that song really is! When we are forgiven our sins are thrown into that "sea of forgetfulness" they are gone, God has forgiven them and they are forgotten. Sometimes though we don't forget about them, we go fishing in that "forgetfulness sea" and fish them back up. That is what I feel Casting Crowns is saying with the song, we should not be dwelling on past sins, drowning in that "sea of forgetfulness" Rather, we should remember that what God has forgiven should not remain a burden, we should forget the things which are in the past and be pressing forward to those things which are ahead. Because our sins truly are as far as the east is from the west....

5 comments :

  1. Anonymous said...

    That is so true!
    Not too long ago I was struggling with some bitterness towards a friend of mine because of some things that had happened.
    One day I put in a Newsboys CD, I had never really listened that hard to the lyrics. But suddenly One of the songs really jumped out at me for the first time. It was talking about holding grudges and what it would take for us to lay them down and the freedom we feel when we let them go.
    The next day I happened to see the person and I was able to talk to him.
    I went away from that conversation feeling so good!
    And it was all because I had listened hard enough, not just to the beat, but to the lyrics of the song.

  2. Anonymous said...

    I realized after I read the above post that I really didn't give credit where credit was due.......God was the one that changed my heart through the lyrics of the song :)

  3. Anonymous said...

    Hey, I know this is an old post but thanks for your thoughts on this. I'm thinking about performing this for Special Music the week after Easter and I've been kind of hung up on that line as well. You've given me something to think about.

  4. Anonymous said...

    Well, the concept is good, but where in the Bible does it ever say that our sins are cast into the sea of forgetfulness? I don't find that anywhere...

  5. Will said...

    The "Sea of forgetfulness" is more of a metaphor for the fact that those who trust in God and believe in Him have had all their sins forgiven and forgotten, aka cast in the sea of forgetfulness We stand before God sanctified and washed clean by the blood from the sacrifice of His only son Jesus. As for scriptures and just so you know I use NKJ....

    Isaiah 43:25 "I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.

    Hebrews 8:12
    "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."