Mercy Raining - behind the song

The best way I could describe the song "Mercy Raining" is that it's about being sick and tired of being sick and tired. It's a song about my struggles in life, the one's no one but the Lord and I know about. Struggles inside of me that I was sick and tired of plaguing me. To be more to the point on what these issues are, I was sick of anger and lust.

What most people don't tell their kids or those they mentor is the destructive nature of sex, lust, pornography, and how it all ties in with anger. Maybe it's because most people haven't even figured it out themselves. This is a rather interesting thought especially since Jesus laid it out for us right in the Sermon on the Mound (Matthew 5). The teachings on dealing with lust and anger are the first and foundational of His teachings.

What does this have to do with "Mercy Raining"? Everything. As a young boy I was introduced to pornography. Not just magazines, but just the regular old box office movies and TV Shows. It perverted my sex drive (as it does to any young man that is breathing). Between that and some bad peer pressure pre-marital sex occurred. I hate to be crude, but it truly is a "once you pop, you can't stop" type of thing for a young man. If we can't find a young woman then we just take care of it manually.

These things are done in private. The pictures\images are stuck in a young man's mind and they pop up at the least expected moment and the pressure builds. We literally become slaves to these passions, they run out of control.

Then there is the anger side. It's really a never ending circle of violence. No man wants a woman who's been with another man, no matter what he says. This causes anger, rage, and eventually hatred. The never ending circle comes in when this anger is channeled through lust. If you don't think it happens, just look at the rate of pornography addictions skyrocketing. This isn't just a single man's game, this is happening within marriages too!

So that is what "Mercy Raining" is about. It's about the horrible empty feeling after falling again. Powerlessly being tossed around by these passions that holds me a slave. It's that horrible regret of lashing out at your wife for burnt toast when it's really just the jealousy and anger flaring up. It's about being sick and tired of being sick and tired.

As the lyric says, "Falling down not wanting to get up, but You reach down and fill my cup". I don't pretend to understand the mercy, grace, and compassion of the Lord. The fact that He faces me constantly, helping me. Never getting frustrated, always urging me forward. It's the relational experience of a personal God that a doctrine or teaching can't contain.

"Wipe away the tears from my weary eyes". There's nothing more distressing than doing something that you don't want to do. The feeling of being trapped as these passions press in and begin to define our thoughts, our desires, and even our emotions. It is an addictive passion and it toys with us as we try to run from it.

The only thing keeping us in a realm of sanity in this song is the mercy of God. And such is life, the unfathomable mercy of God and Him being active in my life is the only thing that keeps me sane.

Blessings,

Jeremy

Mercy Raining
by Jeremy Neely

Wipe away the tears from my weary eyes.
So alone it seems You're a million miles away.
Life just haunts me from day to day.

Take my life as a living sacrifice.

Mercy raining on this heart of mine.
Dry and dusty from days gone by.
I love You is this souls cry.
Mercy raining on this heart of mine.

Falling down not wanting to get up.

You reach down and You fill my cup.
Put a new song on this broken heart of mine.I
feel Your love and it's gonna be alright.