The Lord God Strong and Mighty

Yesterday I spent over eight hours in the hospital emergency room, waiting with my sisters for a doctor.  I have spoken about this time and again, so by now our story is not unfamiliar to anyone reading.  She had what looked like a seizure, while having her physical at the doctor’s office. An ambulance was called, and she was whisked off to the hospital to begin our exercise in patience.  When we walked into the emergency room, we were greeted by chaos and echoes of coughing bouncing from the walls.  Immediately my elder sister and I masked up.  We were escorted to the hall behind the ER waiting room, where gurneys were lined up with the weak and pain ridden bodies of desperate people.  My sister was among them.  She started to cry when we came in, asking us “what’s wrong with me?”  I can’t tell you that I had any answers at that moment. My eyes mirrored her tear filled ones and I couldn’t speak.  Thankfully Clauds had an answer. “Nothing is wrong with you! We have been here before and we know what to do.  Remember we are walking through this with you.”  She was firm and fully convincing. Both Kal and I nodded in agreement and it set the tone for the hours ahead of us.  We knew that God was true to His word and indeed we were not alone…the Lord God Strong and Mighty was with us!

 

A few days before this, my mom sat on the floor cleaning the fridge.  Suddenly she burst into tears, causing me to stand stupefied looking at her. I asked, “Are you alright?” (Stupid question considering the woman was bawling her eyes out before me).  She answered, “No.”  “What’s wrong?” I asked.  She replied that she was thinking about Kal. She was worried for her and wondered when all of this would end.  Again, I had no answer, but I knew enough to know that I didn’t know, and I needed to go to the One who did know.  God knew.  So we called an immediate prayer meeting, leaving all the work that needed to be done and disregarding the places that we needed to be at right now.  God spoke through His sovereign word.

Psalm 24:7-10

Lift up your heads, you gates;
be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
⁸ Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
the Lord mighty in battle.
⁹ Lift up your heads, you gates;
lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
¹⁰ Who is he, this King of glory?
The Lord Almighty—
he is the King of glory.

The Lord strong and mighty, is our God and He told us not to worry about Kal on Saturday.  So by the time Thursday happened, we were reminded that The Lord is Mighty!  He is Mighty in Battle.  This battle is not ours, but His. As such, we can lift up our heads to Him, and allow the King of Glory to come in.

The Battle Still Belongs to God

Yesterday, my friend told me a story that I hope I will remember forever.  I should warn you, that the details are not pleasant, but my focus is not on that, but on the attitude of the one who gave the testimony.

During the Sunday service, my friend noted that the praise and worship leader was particularly enthusiastic in her praise. She was a woman without shame, praising God with abandonment.  She didn’t seem to care who heard, or who saw or better yet who cared.  She was focused on God and praised him with loud cheers of Amen and Hallelujahs.  At the end of the Pastor’s sermon, she came to the podium and decided to give an explanation for her praise.  Not that she needed to explain it, as I believe that is between her and God.  However, she gave her testimony, and I have benefitted because of it.

She told the church that some time ago, she was abducted from her driveway by a man. He held a gun to her head and drove her back in her car to a location that was unfamiliar to her.  He beat her, until there was blood everywhere.  In her car, her radio brought through the invisible waves the lyrics of a song writer’s glory to God.  He told her to turn it off as that would not help her. But throughout his beating and rape of her body, her mind sent prayers to God.  She asked Him to help her. This man told her he was going to kill her, and he wore no disguise as he knew she would not be alive to identify him.  But she kept praying; she even pleaded with him, telling him he doesn’t have to do this. 

 

At one point she had the gun in her hand, and could have killed him easily.  But a peace that surely surpasses understanding told her no. God’s voice said he needs Jesus too and if you take his life then that opportunity would never come for him.  That would be it.  [Friends, there is no hope after the grave, no matter how much prayers you pray for the ones that have passed on already. The dead cannot accept Christ or receive pardon…it is the cry of too late from the coffin].  She didn’t kill him and he didn’t kill her. Instead he let her go.  Sadly he had already carried out his violent act against her, but he did not commit murder.  She was in the middle of nowhere. She screamed her help, but none came to assist. She could see people in the distance, but they could not see her.  He had taken her phone, wallet and car keys and she was stranded and hurt in a place she didn’t know.

 

Then he returned.  I imagined how her heart must have raced seeing him again. But he did something unexpected. He gave her back the things he took and gave her directions to get out of where she was.  Is that not God?  Is that not our holy God?  She knows why she praises him like a woman gone mad, because of what he did for her. She didn’t become bitter, nor did she denounce God for not sparing her from the hardship of the experience, she turned all of that into praise. She glorified him for saving her life, when she would have been dead.  When evil came to destroy her, God was with her and gave her His comfort.

What trials and hardship are you facing?  Have you also been such a woman, raped and beaten and left for dead?  Have you been a victim of some other evil?  Maybe it is not as horrific, but for you it is just as life changing, is that you?  Maybe, it is the everyday stresses of life – financial woes, wayward kids, family out of control, does that describe you?  Whatever you are going through, I urge you to trust God. I urge you to offer him shouts of praise and new songs for His glory.  I invite you to join in the shouts of many women all over this globe, linking faith to faith in a world that is harsh and at times so dark it seems hopeless. Let us remind ourselves of what he has done when we feel it is not enough.  Women, be encouraged today for the battle still belongs to God.

 

 

 

Come to me, all who are weary...

In reading Emily P. Freeman’s article “When Your Bag is Heavy and Your Faith Feels Small” I was reminded of something that happened to me on Saturday.  It was not quite eight a.m. when my sister knocked on my bedroom door and asked, “Can you rouse yourself for prayer?”  She didn’t wait for my reply, seeming to know that I would get up – somehow.  Like most people I know, I so look forward to sleeping in on my one day off.  Sundays usually require an early start for church, so like my son, Saturdays are my vacation days – sleep in until my eyes pop open on their own kind of days.

I was still somewhat disoriented and grunted in my response to the now empty space framed between my door posts.  I literally dragged myself and my winter blanket into my mom’s room for the meeting.  I had yet to speak out loud and had the early morning frog still nestled snugly in my vocal pipes.  I found that I pondered about that for a while, as I croaked out the responsive AMEN to my sis’s Amen? (She had been up for more minutes than myself and was bursting with enthusiasm).

She spoke as led by the spirit of God.  Verse after verse she set about being obedient.  I was still in a daze, but awake enough to take notes for later.  She then asked us to stand in God’s presence; to stand before Him and be in awe of Him.  I did.  It was then that I noticed how heavy my blanket had become around my shoulders.  I don’t remember it starting out like that, but as we progressed into the hour, the weight was noticeable and distracting.  It seemed all I could think about even as my mom and sister sang the heart stirring chorus “I Stand, I stand in awe of you”.  I admit that I was not thinking of God at all. I could only think of this burden about my shoulders; but He was thinking about me.

In His quiet voice, He whispered the solution, so simple and obvious.  Take off the blanket.  I can already see how you may be tempted to roll your eyes and say “Duh!”  I give you permission to do just that if you are so inclined.  Yet, hear me out. My preoccupation with the heavy blanket was more than that.  It hindered my worship, and shifted my focus from what was happening right before me. I was standing in God’s presence all along, but didn’t lift my eyes to Him. I didn’t acknowledge His presence the way one would a King.  I was busy.  I was restless in my mind. I was weighed down and thereby rendered ineffective in worship and unable to receive from Him.  I was at His table but didn’t eat.

So when He said take it off, it was now more than the blanket.  I did let the blanket fall to the ground.  It was then I noted how light I felt.  I literally felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders…it had been. I felt free.  He then used this simple act to project my life.  I was carrying the weight of my world; when the solution is just as simple…cast it off. Let it fall on Him.

You may be surprized to know that you have also been doing the same thing.  It is a good thing He doesn’t tell us “Duh!”  Instead He invites us to pray to Him when we don’t know what to do and He promises He will not be condescending in His response to us. In fact, He will tell us what to do.  He invites us to give him our burdens, and take up His, which is light.  He invites us to rest in Him.  Wont you take Him up on that invite?  "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28 (NIV)