Noah started walking when he was nine months old. His mom, Rachel, was bursting with pride. She called her husband. She called her girlfriends. “Guess what? Noah’s walking! And he just turned nine months!” she gushed.
It was fun for a few weeks but soon implications set in. Rachel was going to have to follow Noah everywhere—and everywhere was a whole lot farther than when he’d been able to crawl. She insisted he hold her hand crossing the playground’s swinging bridge or climbing the jungle gym. He had a grip on Rachel’s hand but it didn’t compare to how hard she grasped his. She wasn’t going to let him slip.
Feel like you’re slipping?
We all have times when we feel like we’re slipping. We’re clinging to God as best we can.
Recently I’ve been overwhelmed by everything I’ve got to do in the next couple of weeks. I’m tired just thinking about it and at times just feel “stuck”.
“God, I don’t know if I can do this? I’m feeling so overloaded,” I said.
Maybe you’re in a different situation…
Your husband is wrestling with a career change and you don’t know how to help him. You’re struggling with the loss of dreams, things you’d hoped would happen but now won’t. Or maybe you’re sick and tired of having to wear a mask everywhere.
Or maybe you’re trying to do what’s right but coming up short. You’re struggling to forgive when the temptation is to get angry and hold a grudge. You’re trying to be quiet when the temptation is to get in the last word. And the biggy: You want to trust but the temptation to worry is so strong.
It just seems like so much.
What are you struggling with the most?
Help and Hope!
Something that’s really encouraged me lately is Psalm 121. Like us, the psalmist needed help and wrote…
I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
Psalm 121:1-3
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip.
Check the impeccable credentials
When we think of help, we think of an assistant, as in a nurse’s aid. She or he lends a hand to the primary person, the nurse. God’s help, though, is POWER (Hosea 3:9). Without him we can’t do anything (John 15:5). With his help, he gives favor and blessing (Psalm 146:5).
And his credentials? He’s only the one who made the mountains. He’s the one who stretched out the heavens. The one who makes sure that falls follows spring and the sun rises and sets everyday. He holds everything together.
So having his help is like a girl who gets help on her writing assignment from a Pulitzer prize-winner. Way more help than she needs!
Even if things look bad, puzzling, frustrating, everything can change as quickly as you can snap your fingers–because God is your help.
Guaranteed to be on top of things
Psalm 121 doesn’t just reassure us with God’s credentials, it clues us in to what God is doing.
The word “watch” is listed 5 times in the eight verses of Psalm 121! God watches like you watch your two-year-old around the fireplace or your four-year-old on the jungle gym. On high alert.
I love this thought from my pastor…
Do you feel like you’re the one hanging on to God?…You only have so much strength, but God hangs on to you. He says, “Remain in my grip. Trust me.”
PASTOR DALE HUMMEL
Pr. Hummel goes on to say that if it’s up to us to hang on, well, we aren’t going to last long. The good news?
He’s got you! Take that in for awhile.
What phrase in these verses resonate with you the most?
I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber….
The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
Psalm 121
© 2020, Carol Garborg
Recent Comments