Sundays are big days for me due to the nature of my calling. In fifteen years of marriage Amy and I have never ridden to church together on a Sunday because of the duties of pastoral ministry beginning long before people arrive at the church house. I love getting up early on Sunday in anticipation of what God might do among us as we gather for worship. I love seeing the people of Meadow and having the privilege of loving and serving alongside of them. Preaching God’s truth is a delight to me and I’m blessed to be able to share what He places in my heart in the form of biblical exposition. Sundays are my favorite day of the week but they are also – by far – my most rigorous days. The joy and satisfaction that I experience on Sunday comes with a price on Monday. Reminiscent of the weekend hangovers of my pre-conversion years is the feeling my mind and body now has each Monday morning when the alarm clock goes off. A mental fog, a bodily weariness and emotional depletion and a hesitancy toward human contact – this is the stuff of the post-Sunday blues. Today, God spoke a verse to me that I breezed over yesterday while reading in the Psalms. Today I leave that same verse with you as a reminder that you will not face today alone:
“Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.” – Psalm 54:4
You and I have a Helper. What a title for God Almighty to assign to Himself – our Helper? Our Helper! Yes, it is true. God is offering to insert Himself into your day, your week, your month so that you do not give in to the temptation to despair for even a moment. It is good to know that He is near. It is even better to know that He is able to help. Yet to know that He is near, able to help AND actually committed to do so on your behalf is remarkable relief to the soul.
- You don’t have to be strong today, God is
- You don’t have to have all the answers you will need, He has them and will give them to you when you will need them
- You don’t have to be at the top of your game, He has grace all-sufficient
- You don’t have to be the best mom, the greatest employee, the most capable leader – He is able to accomplish it all without your personal excellence
- You can break down and cry and it won’t diminish His love for you
- You can let someone else handle the tough stuff for a few hours while you remain still and get reacquainted with the fact that God is still God
- You don’t have to fear your weakness as if this might be that one day when God gets sick of you not having it all together and moves on to a more fit specimen
- You don’t have to get it all tidied up before the sun sets tonight because His grace, mercy, love, compassion and commitment will be awaiting you tomorrow at sunrise
You see, God doesn’t mind helping you out. Forgive me if that sounds simplistic or trite but I believe that it is absolutely true. Get it down – you NEED help. You NEED God’s help. You NEED God’s help right now and there is no sense in pretending otherwise. Whether we recognize it or not, we are children of a Father who loves for us to rely upon Him. He loves to meet our needs. He loves to compensate for our manifold weaknesses. He loves to dispense grace to those who cry to Him. God is under no illusion about what you are made of. He has always known you as being weak and needy and it has not served to cause Him to back off of His loving commitment to you. So take Him up on His offer to help you today. “Help in what?”, you may ask.
Everything, child of God. Everything.
Thank you, WOW…exactly what I needed today!
Psalm 103:14
“For He, Himself, knows our frame. He is mindful that we are but dust.”
This is a profoundly secure place to be. Thank you Jeff for being so very real in sharing your faith. It keeps me doing it too.