Tension and Release
In music we talk a lot about tension and release. What makes harmonic consonance so sweet – dissonance. What makes rhythmic order energizing – tempo rubato. Why does the tonic chord in a progression feel right – the dominant chord preceding it. Without tension and release power ballads would never have risen to greatness in 80’s hair bands. Listen to the prelude to Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, Duke Ellington’s Mood Indigo or Pink Floyd’s Hey You. The masters know how to push tension to the perfect place. Too far and you drive away the listener. Not far enough and you rob the listener of the pay off.
Life is tension and release. We most appreciate the things for which we have worked the hardest. We celebrate joy more deeply because we have felt pain. Many times our deepest growth in relationship with Christ comes from crying out to God when we’ve been humbled. God’s sovereignty ultimately controls the tension and release in our lives. The Master knows our breaking point. He is profoundly attuned to what the release will bring to our life. Trusting God’s sovereignty is not always easy, but whether we like it or not God is in control. Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 says, “Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him” I want to know and control what’s coming next so I can stop any unwanted occurrences. In music predictability can kill the release. God in His wisdom hides the future, freeing us to live by faith. When we are in the center of pain, our faith in Christ strengthens us. Don’t confuse faith with emotion. Satan uses emotion to convince us that God has abandoned us or doesn’t love us, but in the midst of these lies, faith screams out, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6) Faith does not release us when we are through the tension. God holds on to us and walks us into the sweetest part of the song. He takes the excruciating circumstances that Satan wants wasted and instead uses them to help you minister to others in pain. In Galatians 5:5-6 it says, “But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” It is in expressing love for others that a Christ-follower turns heartache into happiness; grief into purpose.
The wisdom of God never ceases to amaze me. He could have made salvation erase all pain, heartache and struggles on this earth. Instead He uses the tensions in our life to focus our relationship with Him releasing us into the joy that comes from loving others. We serve a masterful Composer.
–Pastor Dennis
