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THE STRUGGLE WITHIN Hetfield/Ulrich
REACHING OUT FOR SOMETHING YOU'VE GOT TO FEEL WHILE CLUTCHING TO WHAT YOU HAD THOUGHT WAS REAL
KICKING AT A DEAD HORSE PLEASES YOU NO WAY OF SHOWING YOUR GRATITUDE SO MANY THINGS YOU DON'T WANT TO DO WHAT IS IT? WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO LOSE?
WHAT THE HELL WHAT IS IT YOU THINK YOU'RE GONNA FIND? HYPOCRITE BOREDOM SETS INTO THE BORING MIND
STRUGGLE WITHIN IT SUITS YOU FINE STRUGGLE WITHIN YOUR RUIN STRUGGLE WITHIN YOU SEAL YOUR OWN COFFIN STRUGGLE WITHIN THE STRUGGLING WITHIN
HOME IS NOT A HOME IT BECOMES A HELL TURNING IT INTO YOUR PRISON CELL ADVANTAGES ARE TAKEN, NOT HANDED OUT WHILE YOU STRUGGLE INSIDE YOUR HELL
REACHING OUT GRABBING FOR SOMETHING YOU'VE GOT TO FEEL CLOSING IN THE PRESSURE UPON YOU IS SO UNREAL
STRUGGLE WITHIN IT SUITS YOU FINE STRUGGLE WITHIN YOUR RUIN STRUGGLE WITHIN YOU SEAL YOUR OWN COFFIN STRUGGLE WITHIN THE STRUGGLING WITHIN
REACHING OUT FOR SOMETHING YOU'VE GOT TO FEEL WHILE CLUTCHING TO WHAT YOU HAD THOUGHT WAS REAL WHAT THE HELL
WHAT IS IT YOU THINK YOU'RE GONNA FIND? HYPOCRITE BOREDOM SETS INTO THE BORING MIND
STRUGGLE WITHIN IT SUITS YOU FINE STRUGGLE WITHIN YOUR RUIN STRUGGLE WITHIN YOU SEAL YOUR OWN COFFIN STRUGGLE WITHIN THE STRUGGLING WITHIN
THE STRUGGLE WITHIN
There's no doubt about it - Metallica is one of the hottest groups around. No matter what the song, they really cook. But it's not just their sound that's great - their lyrics really make you stand up and take notice! Their songs aren't just a bunch of shallow rhymes - they show that someone's been thinking.
Metallica's THE STRUGGLE WITHIN is typical of those songs - it says what we've all felt. They start off singing reaching out for something you've got to feel while clutching to what you had thought was real . . . they describe perfectly the struggle that we all go through. We're always on the make for something - something real, but when we get it - we're just not satisfied. Then . . . we cling hard to it while we search for the next thrill. Metallica said it perfectly!
Our struggle to find "reality" is little more than a bunch of uppers and downers. One night we're drunk out of our mind and we feel like we're on top of the world . . . the next morning our head feels like the world's on top of it. One night we're with someone in bed who gave it to us good . . . later we find out they gave us more than we wanted - now we've got VD. And like Metallica we ask ourselves, what the hell, what is it you think you're gonna find?
Hypocrite, boredom sets into the boring mind. What is it we think we're gonna find to cure our boredom? The search gets old real fast. There's something out there, but we don't know what it is! Maybe it's money, but then, if it's money that makes life so wonderful, why are so many rich people unhappy - why is their suicide rate higher than average?
That's the the struggle within.
Maybe it's fame. DON'T BELIEVE IT! Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield have got that and they still wrote this song! Fame does not satisfy the struggle within.
What is that we are struggling for - to feel good enough about ourselves? Do we need to start helping little old ladies across the street and buying cookies from those poor little girl scouts? Is that what it's going to take? Don't count on it!
That's the the struggle within.
Is there an answer? Is life supposed to be meaningless? Or is that what we're missing - meaning in life? Would it make a difference if we knew why we were put here and what we are supposed to be doing with our life? It sure would.
Why are we here? Perhaps you've never thought about it before, but it's only natural that the One who made us - made us for Himself. Artists often create works of art for their own use, inventors devise gadgets to simplify their lives, and students make their own jewelry in shop class. A divine being like God who had the brilliance to design and create the atomic structure of the universe, and who had the power to pull it all out of nothing, would quite naturally have created us for Himself - to serve Him and be fulfilled by Him.
Now, many of us get up-tight at the idea of living our lives for someone else. In fact, the very thought that we owe something to God just ticks us off! I mean, who does He think He is - God? Oops!
Ok, so He is pretty powerful, and could squash us like ants, and we probably are a real pain to Him anyway, so how will living for Him stop the struggle within?
The struggle within is only a struggle for a right relationship with our Creator. It's only because things aren't right with Him that inside we feel empty and alone. When we get things right with Him, the search is over and the emptiness goes away. The things that once enslaved us will have lost their power.
There's one problem. When we look to God for help, there's something that keeps us from Him. You see . . . all of our running after what we want out of life, is perceived by God as independence and rebellion. He created us to do His thing, but we have lived to do ours. It is, in fact, our self-oriented living that has brought us greater and greater emptiness. That "self-oriented" style of living, God calls "sin." It is our sin that has separated us from God and keeps us from entering into a close relationship with Him.
There's good news though! God is willing to forgive sin and rebellion. God has declared that through trusting in His son, Jesus Christ, that we can be forgiven our debt and have a fresh start in life. 1,991 years ago He sent Jesus to Earth for the purpose of being punished for sins . . . sins he had not committed. Innocent and undeserving of any punishment Himself, Jesus was tortured and killed, so that we would not have to die for our own sins. Jesus was willing to suffer in our place. Now that's love!
Some will not grasp how incredible that love is if they don't understand how awful our sin is. In His willingness to forgive us our sins, God does us an absolutely incredible favor! God says that our self-centeredness, pride and bitterness are so great that none of our motives are pure! All of our good deeds are contaminated with some self-serving purpose. When we compare ourselves to others, we think that we are not so bad, but God is perfectly pure and holy. He sees what true perfection really is. We must use God's standard of comparison to determine our "goodness" - not ours.
The 10 commandments reveal that each of us steals, lies, hates, is lustful, and lives for ourselves. Fortunately, though having blown it with our lives, God offers us forgiveness and power to change.
It is through trusting in Christ and his death on the cross that we are able to draw into the close relationship with God that we were created for. I know it sounds too good to be true, but you can't afford to be wrong. If God made you for Himself, then certainly He knows what's good for you.
Consider what Jesus himself said, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life . . . whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already."
Of course, "believing" is not simply a mental acceptance of the facts about Jesus. It is trusting that He really is who he said he is . . . trusting everything he has taught, and trusting your life into His hands. It takes real honesty to follow Jesus, to be different from the others . . . to admit that you need God.
Where is your heart today? Do you see that you are separated from God? Do you want to be right with Him? God is a loving and a tender God. He is willing to take anyone who comes to Him. The love He showed in sending Jesus to die is here today for those who will come honestly to Him.
Don't let this moment slip away. Take God's offer of peace in your heart right now and living with Him forever when you die. Cry out now to God. Be honest and admit that you are a sinner. Ask Him to forgive you and give your life over to Him. Tell God you're ready to live the way He wants you to. If you desire to know more, we'd love to talk with you. Call us at (916) 967-HOPE.
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