Selah, in their new song, "You Raise Me Up," begins by singing about times when they feel weary and burdened.
You know the times they mean-times when you don't want to deal with that rebellious teenager or that difficult marriage for one more moment, times when you want to give up trying and give in to despair.
How does Selah handle dark moments, moments they feel parched and weighed down with care?
They sit still, the song goes on to say, and wait in silence for the Lord to come.
Sometimes that is the hardest thing to do, sit in silence, when you want to scream or cry out in frustration. Sit in silence when you feel desperate. Sit in silence and wait. Wait for what? Selah sings
Until You come and sit awhile with me
And then the next chord hits a triumphant tone as Selah proclaims,
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas
You raise me up-to more than I can be.
What is there about spending a few moments with the Lord that enables someone to walk on stormy seas, to keep working at a troubled marriage, to keep relating to an insolent teen? To keep trying no matter what the trial?
God has used different verses of Scripture at different times to keep me going. Today I am reminded of what the apostle Paul advised the early Christians in 2 Corinthians 4:7-9; 16-17:
"We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed."
Paul was imprisoned, beaten, shipwrecked-he endured hardship and pain.
And what did he say according to those verses? The power to get through those tough times is "not of ourselves," we are just "earthen vessels."
He says that God gives us the power to endure distress and not be crushed, to be troubled with uncertainty and not despair, to suffer mistreatment with the confidence that we are not alone and to be struck down but get up again.
Then Paul goes on to encourage,
"We do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison."
Paul reminds us that what we are experiencing is changing us into a person beyond comparison. We are becoming the hands and heart of Jesus. We are working toward an eternity with Jesus and others who love Him.
Do you have some stormy waters to walk on?
He can help you persevere. He can produce in you an eternal weight of glory. He can transform you, make you Christlike.
He can raise you up to more than you can be.
In His Grip,
Pastor J
