O God, my heart is steadfast.
You, Lord God, are my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? You are the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? You will keep me in perfect peace; my mind is stayed on You, because I trust in You. I will not be afraid of evil tidings; my heart is steadfast, trusting in You, Lord. My heart is established; I will not be afraid until I see my desire upon my enemies. Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In the time of trouble You shall hide me in Your pavilion; in the secret place of Your tabernacle You shall hide me; You shall set me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in Your tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to You, my Lord. Now may You, the God of all grace, who called me to Your eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after I have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle me. To You be the glory and the dominion forever and ever.
My heart is confident, Lord, because You are completely trustworthy and sure. I praise You!
PSALM 108:1; PSALM 27:1; ISAIAH 26:3; PSALM 112:7–8; PSALM 56:3; PSALM 27:5–6; 1 PETER 5:10–11 - Dr. David Jeremiah Life-Changing Moments with God
So where did the title come from?
Both by way of the wisdom of Godly men and my own life's experiences, I have come to the realization that life comes in waves more than in instances. Right now my Wife and I are in the midst of a big wave. The tide is rising.
This prayer that Dr. Jeremiah crafted hits home very much this morning. It's everything that we need to focus on, not the severity or the height of the waves.
It's hard. We both were up way too early this morning. It's exhausting and extremely hard not to be anxious about all that we are going through in preparation to sell our house. Please note that I didn't say home. These buildings we live in, in this world, are all temporary. For those who've lived their lives and God's called them from this world, not one has taken their buildings or things with them. The only recorded instance is in the Old Testament. A family group that wrongly challenged Moses before God. They and all that belonged to them ended up in Hades...that is Hell. It says that God listened to Moses and the ground opened up and they and all they had swallowed them up.
We struggle right now not with even the letting go of things, but with boxing up of what is left. We have donated more than a few dozen carloads of things to thrift stores. Have sold off things and have given stuff away.
The anxiety is palatable. We pray and pray and pray some more as we go about things.
In our viewpoint time isn't on our side. My new job is in a different city. I have to start it before we're ready to go to market in selling. That's a huge immovable object.
We ache but keep trying to move on. Like a boat with oars pressing on in a certain direction.
The timeliness hits me personally because someone whom I thought was a friend has turned his hand against me. In the midst as well is that deep sadness. I have placed this person into God's hands to deal with, especially considering the person claims to be a Christian. There's a few significant passages that lead me to do that. One that is from 2 Thessalonians where we read of Paul handling people over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme. The other has to do with the verse that says it's a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. I have not the time nor ability to dwell on that level of hurt. But as God has shown me, He always can go where I can't. He has proven He can always deal with situations and people in ways that I have never considered.
Add to this medical problems with family. We can’t stop what we are doing to render much support to them while they go through their own trials.
Wave upon wave, the tides continue.
I confess that I have cried, not out loud, but to myself. My heart is breaking in several directions at once. First for my Wife, then my family that's going through what they are and lastly for this one who I once called friend.
We know that God's got this. We know the truths that He's shown us in our lives with Him.
We know what we know that we know. It's still hard.
Being reminded in this prayer this morning helps. There indeed will be a time in the near future when we will see all of this in the rear view mirror. We faced many things in 20 plus years of marriage already. There's the promise of never being left nor forsaken. There's the promise of God that He's near to the broken-hearted. There's His promises that He's never broken.
It hit me weeks ago about what thorn Paul had been asking God to remove. It was my thought then that it was anxiety. His burden of the concern of all the Churches. It never left him and was constantly on his mind. God's telling me the same as Paul was told. His grace is sufficient. Power is perfected in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9.
It won't mean that I won't cry. Many a time indeed I have found that the Spirit has indeed had to intercede on my behalf because I couldn't find the words.
Pressing on is what we must do, in spite of how things look. Ride the waves as they come.
Trusting that God's doing all of this for a reason.
Prayers would be appreciated by any and all. Prayers helped lay the foundation of the Church. Prayers sustained Christ on the cross. Prayers opened the doors of the cells of the Apostles to set them free.
Lord, thank you for everything and standing with us through all of this.
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