His love makes the next step possible

Tags

attacks, devil, enemy, God's love, I'm Worn, joy, protection, Psalm 27, Tenth Avenue North

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?

When evildoers assail me
to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.

One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.

For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift me high upon a rock.

And now my head shall be lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

In the first six verses of Psalm 27, I take comfort. I don’t have external enemies surrounding me, but oh, how the evil one likes to attack my life. Most of these attacks are unseen by everyone else. It’s in the deep dark places of my mind that he comes.

God is sheltering me, even in the midst of the attack. He draws me back to Himself, reminding me of His love and mercy. I know it isn’t a coincidence that in the same week that I find myself struggling, the homework in my Bible study turned to the book of Job. God is reminding me again and again of His protective hand, that He is lifting up my head even now.

I’ve gotten a pretty clear picture over the years of how God has made me, designed me to be a unique creation even as I am made in His image. The enemy has studied my personality pretty thoroughly, too, and he is good at setting traps for me. But God knows me better that the devil does, better than I know myself. He reminds me time and again that I am His child, that I do not belong to the darkness and I am not up for grabs. I was bought with blood, and the sale is final. He also reminds me that it is not by my strength that I will overcome – He is the one who is already accomplishing it.

Without that reminder, I’d be stuck in self-pity, attempting to will myself to get unstuck. And I don’t have the strength on my own. The past few years have taught me that I am much stronger than I ever realized, but only because of the love of Christ moving in me. It was His love for my daughter that bolstered me during her illness and death. Knowing He loved her more than I ever could made it possible for me to keep going, to put one foot in front of the other and take yet another step each day.

And now, He reminds me that He loves me that much, too. Only in that love and protection can I take the next step. Even though I am weary. Because I am weary, I can see that it is always true.

It’s been a while since I shared a song with all of you, but this one is particularly coming to mind today:

“Worn”
Tenth Avenue North

I’m Tired I’m worn
My heart is heavy
From the work it takes
To keep on breathing
I’ve made mistakes
I’ve let my hope fail
My soul feels crushed
By the weight of this world

And I know that you can give me rest
So I cry out with all that I have left

Let me see redemption win
Let me know the struggle ends
That you can mend a heart
That’s frail and torn
I wanna know a song can rise
From the ashes of a broken life
And all that’s dead inside can be reborn
Cause I’m worn

I know I need to lift my eyes up
But I’m too weak
Life just won’t let up
And I know that you can give me rest
So I cry out with all that I have left

My prayers are wearing thin
Yeah, I’m worn
Even before the day begins
Yeah, I’m worn
I’ve lost my will to fight
I’m worn
So, heaven come and flood my eyes

Though I’m worn
Yeah I’m worn