Thought for Today
Psalm 121:1 I lift up my eyes to the hills-- from where will my help come? 2 My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.
Mark 9:24 Immediately the father of the child cried out, "I believe; help my unbelief!"
Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Happy (?) Friday the 13th. Do you believe in luck? Good luck; bad luck? Do you think everything happens for a predetermined reason? Can we influence the direction of our lives, of the events that occur and influence our lives?
I awoke this morning to find an infestation of ear worms in my mind. Dominating them all is Bill Withers’ Lean On Me. I am not musically talented. I do love music, and I love to sing. Sometimes I even sing on key and at least close to the actual notes written by the composer. Sometimes! But, I do often find inspiration, comfort and encouragement in music, especially on tunes from my youth and childhood.
Regrettably, I cannot claim that any song written in the 1970s is from my youth or childhood. But think about the lyrics of Lean On Me. “Sometimes in our lives/We all have pain/We all have sorrow. But if we are wise/We know that there’s always tomorrow. Lean on me/When you’re not strong/And I’ll be your friend/I’ll help you carry on . . .”
I believe that when we have pain and/or sorrow, if we listen carefully, we hear our Creator God singing those words of comfort and assurance to us. The psalmist turned his eyes to the hills. We can look everywhere and find that our “help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”
Part of the issue we all confront when we do have pains and sorrows, when “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men Gang aft agley,” (To a Mouse, Robert Burns) has to do with our own egos. We want to proudly tell God that we can handle things all on our own. Of course, often we cannot. Lean On Me, reminds us, “Please swallow your pride/If I have things you need to borrow . . . You just call on me brother when you need a hand/We all need somebody to lean on.”
I began by asking whether you believe in luck, whether you believe we can influence the direction of our lives, or influence the events that occur and affect our lives. I believe that we can. The problem we most often incur, however, is twofold. First, we forget that we cannot do everything solo. There are problems, sorrows, events and issues far beyond our ability to influence or control.
Secondly, we cannot always (ever?) see the entire picture of the world around us. Only God can see everything all at once. As Paul wrote, “1 Corinthians 13:12 now we see in a mirror, dimly … Now I know only in part.” Paul was writing to that church in Corinth to remind them of God’s promise. That verse reads in full, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
When we are in the midst of things, when our plans have “Gang aft agley,” must we wait until that “then” Paul proclaims? Are we left merely to fend for ourselves on the turbulent seas of life? No! We don’t even have to look to the hills. I have spent most of my life living on a coastal plain. There are many places on earth with no hills. Even in the flattest places, however, we have the assurance that our “help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”
The Lord who made heaven and earth is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. That means that in the good times and in the worst of the bad times God is right here beside each of us. It also means that whether we can see the eventual outcome, whether we can see the positive in all the negative around us, whether things have ‘gang agley’ or not,, we can trust God. In good times and bad, we can lean on God. And, like that song promises, God has promised us all, God will be your friend, God will help you carry on.
Life and eternity are not about luck. Life and eternity are not about our ability to ‘climb every mountain,’ to solve every problem. We just need to remember, “Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—”
Stay safe, lean on God’s grace, trust God,
Pastor Ray