As a pastor I have watched people stagger under heavy blows from time to time. I am thinking of joyful expectant new parents who were dealt the heavy blow of a miscarriage or a still born child. Instead of holding a bundle of joy they buried a little bundle of grief. I am thinking of numerous people I've ministered to dealing with shattered dreams and visions. Failed businesses. Unsuccessful pursuits. I've shared in the sorrows of numbers of people crippled by the heavy blow of grief dealt by the death of a spouse, child or parent. Numerous faces cross my mind. I can see them standing by th casket saying goodbye in tears. Unconsolable. My heart wrenched watching. I've seen the devastating blow of poverty and the hopelessness in people's eyes. Parents who cannot provide for their children swallowing their pride asking for help. Hopeless children knowing they will never have the things the other children take for granted like, clothes, shoes without holes in them and three meals a day. Many times I have sat across the room with a misty eyed wife or husband dealing with the heavy blow of divorce. They do not want it but are powerless to change it. They feel betrayed. Wedding vows shattered along with trust and self esteem. The heavy blow of rejection is a tough one to recover from.
Sometimes the brunt of heavy blows come in such rapid succession the best a person can hope to do is to cover up and just try to keep standing. Survival instincts kick in. Such people just try to hang on and make it through. Two conflicting emotions surface. One, is the hope that things will get better tomorrow. The second, the despair of knowing that things will probably not get any better in the future. In some cases they even get worse.
Week after week I stand before such people who desperately need a word from God. Something to help them through. Something to strengthen them to keep battling, to keep standing and not to throw in the towel. The burdens are real. The pain is pandemic. The sorrows are suffocating. I am supposed to stand before them week after week and say, "This says Jehovah or this says Jesus." It is a huge responsibility.
Then the responsibility is multiplied even more when I consider all the people in the world getting pummeled with heavy blows of persecution, famine, drought, war, cancer and heart disease. I feel the weight this morning. This keyboard and screen are my pulpit for such people worldwide.
What can I teach or preach to help? What can I write to help? If I was the one getting pounded with heavy blows what would I need and want to hear? One verse comes to mind. Over my pastoral ministry I have not quoted and prayed this one verse more than all the others. It my favorite verse to share with suffering people. Maybe God will use it again today in some life.
Psalm 46:1 (NKJV)
1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.
God. Elohim. Adonai. Jehovah. Omnipotent. Omniscient. Omnipresent. Holy. Sovereign. Wise. Faithful. Trustworthy. Able.
Refuge. Meaning our shelter, hope and trust. When the heavy blows of life hit God is our shelter. Each time alone with Him in the prayer closet, each devotion, each Bible study, each worship service, each sleepless night, each day of despair He is our shelter. He dispenses hope. He has earned the right to be trusted. He is our safe place. He is our hiding place.
Strength. Our power, force and might. Sometimes that comes in physical strength. The energy to keep getting up and to keep trudging through another day. Many times it will come in mental strength and emotional strength. The heavy blows take a toll on the psyche. Fears creep in. Doubts surface. Quitting looks more appealing than enduring. In those times it's the strength of Jehovah to help us press forward that helps us through.
A very present help. Jehovah is at hand, ready and available to you right now. He stands ready to help. To rescue. To deliver. To save. To give aid. Today and everyday. He is always present. In the night watches. In the daylight. In tragedy as well as triumph. He is at hand ready to help.
In trouble. In adversity. In distress. In affliction. In sorrow. In pain. In despair. In stress. In failure. In closed doors. In disease. In divorce. In death. In whatever trouble you can imagine. He is present and ready to help.
Jehovah is there. He is present. He is there to help. Sometimes with a word of comfort. Sometimes with renewed strength. Sometimes with shelter and covering offering a safe place to recover and regroup.
I know this cannot take the heavy blows of life away. Maybe it can provide a little ray of hope in what otherwise is a very dark, dreary and stormy time.
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