Today’s weather report from heaven: Sunny and bright with an abundance of light, and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Scripture- “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”- John 4:24
Insight: I have gone through a period recently where I have been in a rut in many areas of my life. Physically I have had a few major issues and scares. A high PSA test led me to an MRI which showed an 80% chance of prostate cancer, which led to a most uncomfortable biopsy procedure. The result of the biopsy was urinary blood and great discomfort. The results were due in a week, but took over 17 days, which led to a time of great exhaustion and worry. But it also was planting a deeper seed of faith which I will discuss in a moment that turned out to be a huge blessing. You see anything that draws you closer to God is ultimately for your good and this sure was the case for me. Well, I got the results back and all 15 tissue samples were benign, praise God! It was such a relief. But then, literally a week later I came down with a severe case of Covid, which left me reeling for much of this past week. My body has been fighting so hard against the intense body aches, cough, congestion and headaches that I lost my ability to concentrate for even more than 30 minutes. So just yesterday, I was exhausted physically, emotionally and spiritually. I was sad, tired, fearful and anxious on so many levels. But then, God gave me a great hope through worship!
I have found that when it is dark in our life, usually God shows up in a powerful and many times unexpected way for those who are earnestly seeking him. Jeremiah penned this truth in 29:12-13 when he wrote “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” I have been seeking Jesus more intently, setting aside lesser things, and trying to be more intentional about praying more and reading scripture even more and eliminating things that bring distraction like the polarizing and destructive news media. The result? Maybe I was open to hearing God through a song lyric in a new way that restored my hope and led me out of my rut. It is a song most of us are familiar with, but it was in a version that brought pure tears of joy to my eyes. The song is called “It is Well,” by Kristene Di Marco. The lyrics that literally caused my soul to leap were so simple, yet so profound. There were two in particular: “This Mountain that’s in front of me, will be thrown into the midst of the Sea.”- How often we forget the power we have in the One we serve. He is so much bigger than our Mountains, and yet so many times, we make our problems bigger than Him. This thought re-ordered everything for me in an instant. He is way bigger than even the Mountains in our life, we simply need to trust in Him! The 2nd was even simpler- an ad lib by the singer in the midst of a great chorus in her adoration of her King. It simply said: “let go my soul, and trust in Him, the waves and wind still no His name.” and then she added this ad lib “ because of who You are Lord.” With this one thought my soul exploded in the joy and freedom I needed. It is because of who He is that we have life. It has nothing to do with me, nothing to do with us. Our efforts, our grinding is futile. We can simply praise and worship the fact that the God we believe in is above all, greater than all, all powerful, all knowing, all present, never going to leave us or forsake us until He comes to take us to our eternal home to be with Him forever. So it is indeed “well with my soul,” today, simply because of who He is. How many times we forget. How good it is to be reminded, sometimes in a most unexpected or simple way. like through a song lyric we have heard a thousand times before, but it was more meaningful in this exact moment. Thank You Jesus! You alone bring life to our dry bones!
Prayer: Jesus, we need You more than ever. It is so cathartic when we feel your presence, even in the simple lyric of a song, that can pull us out of a rut and restore our faith and life, back to trusting in Your plan and purpose. Amen!
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