On the Day I Called

“On the day I called, you answered me;

    my strength of soul you increased.”

“For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly,

    but the haughty he knows from afar.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble,

    you preserve my life;

you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,

    and your right hand delivers me.

The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;

    your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.

    Do not forsake the work of your hands.” (Psalms 138:3,6-8 ESV)

We are all going to face some amount of trouble in this life regardless of who we are or if we are Christian or non-Christian, and this is because we live in flesh bodies on a fallen earth where there is pain and sickness and sorrow and disease and war and hate and evil, etc. Some people will seem to have more than their fair share of trouble, while others will appear to have much less or even little. But we will all have something in our lives which will break our hearts and which will hurt and cause tears to stream from our eyes.

And then, if we are followers of Jesus Christ, who have died with him to sin, and who have been raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness, who are dying daily to sin and denying self and following the Lord in obedience to his commands (New Covenant), we are going to be persecuted. We will have enemies who will come against us who will try to pull us away from the Lord and/or who will treat us with hate and abuse.

But if we are following Jesus with our lives, he will be our strength and our comfort during those times. He will strengthen our souls, our emotions, our hearts, our minds. And he will give us the courage to keep moving forward, and to keep obeying our Lord, and to keep walking in his ways and in his truth regardless of how we are treated by other humans. For the Lord has regard for the humble, but he has no regard for the haughty (proud, self-important) who puff themselves up to make themselves look good.

So, although we walk in the midst of trouble – especially those of us who are following Jesus with our lives, and who are sharing the truth of the gospel, and who are refuting the lies of the enemy – the Lord will preserve our lives. We just have to keep trusting the Lord, and keep turning to him for strength and courage and counsel, regardless of our circumstances, and regardless of how others respond to us and treat us. And we have to stay strong in our convictions and not give way to the tricks of the enemy.

And the bottom line in it all is, no matter what we go through, the Lord will fulfill his purpose for us if our lives are surrendered to him and if we are following his lead in doing whatever he commands us to do. For the Lord allows these trials and tribulations in our lives to test our faith and to make us strong in the Lord and to teach us patience and endurance and reliance upon him and not on ourselves. And he teaches us love and forgiveness and steadfastness of heart and mind in commitment to him and to his will.

And through all that we go through in this life, if we are surrendered to the Lord and to his purposes, he is conforming us to the likeness of character of Jesus Christ, and he is molding us into the people of God he wants us to be, and he is preparing our hearts and minds to do whatever it is he has designed for us to do, even from before we were even born. I know that, for myself, the Lord allowed me to go through all I have gone through so that I would be ready to do what he called me to do 20 years ago.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

Hear My Cry

By G. M. Eldridge

When my soul is worn and weary

And my eyes are filled with grief,

When my hands in desperation

Reach to heaven for relief,

Would I find the words there waiting

If I had the strength to start?

Could a mortal tongue interpret

All the sorrow of a heart?

Spirit, search me in my weakness,

And discern this growing gray.

Intercede in understanding,

Hear the things I cannot say.

Hear my cry, heav’nly Father,

You have known my ev’ry pain.

You have seen all my sorrow,

Hear my cry once again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOJiTN56xTg

Caution: This link may contain ads