Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…

“Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”   
Psalm 73: 23-26 (ESV)

“There he [Elijah] went into a cave and spent the night.  
And the word of the Lord came to him: ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’
He replied, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.’
The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’  
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. 
And after the fire came a gentle whisper.”   
I Kings 19: 9-12 (NIV)

We have all had those days when we’re able to function, despite being overwhelmed with a sense of emptiness and uncertainty.  

And at times, we’ve all had those days where we find it difficult to function at all.  

Where the hours drag by too slowly and too quickly, as we withdraw within.   

While troubles increase against us, and others and situations rise up against us, as we search endlessly and unsuccessfully to find any help from God.  

Yet we want to believe God is there, and has a plan for good for our days, tomorrows, and the rest of our lives. 

Like the prophet Elijah running for his life in the passage in I Kings 19, we want to believe that God sees us, cares, and hasn’t given up on us.

Even a gentle whisper like God’s to Elijah would help.

Thomas Merton, a 20th century Trappist monk in the Abbey of Gethsemane, Kentucky, perhaps feeling as we do at times, wrote this introspective “Prayer of Abandonment.” 

A prayer which seems to encapsulate the differing landscapes of our days, while still us pointing to, and remembering the God we want to believe is still there and cares, as he prays— 

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you and I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.
And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road although I may know nothing about it.
Therefore, will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death, I will not fear, for you are ever with me and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” 

That’s what we want to believe and claim.  

That’s what we need to believe. 

That’s what we can believe with our God.

In the anthem, “Thou, Oh Lord” we are reminded of that, and encouraged with these words reminding us that God is always there—

“Many are they increased that trouble me.
Many are they that rise up against me.
Many there be which say of my soul, 
There is no help for him in God….
I cried unto the Lord with my voice, 
And He heard me out of His holy hill.
I laid me down and slept and awaked,
For the Lord sustained, for the Lord sustained me…
But Thou, oh Lord are a shield for me, 
My glory and the lifter of my head.
Thou, oh Lord are a shield for me, 
My glory and the lifter of my head…”

And He is. No matter what we are going through.

No matter the troubles we face.

No matter whomever or whatever rises up against us.

The Lord, always there…has us.

In His Name–Scott

Be encouraged and lifted as you listen to the presentation by choir and orchestra of First Baptist Church of Dallas of “Thou, Oh Lord.”