Overwhelmed

 

Wednesday, July 14, 2021

I cry out to the Lord; I plead for the Lord’s mercy.  I pour out my complaints before him and tell him all my troubles.  When I am overwhelmed, you alone know the way I should turn.  Wherever I go, my enemies have set traps for me.  I look for someone to come and help me, but no one gives me a passing thought!  No one will help me; no one cares a bit what happens to me.  Then I pray to you, O Lord.  I say, “You are my place of refuge.  You are all I really want in life.  Psalm 142:1-5

In preparing for celebrating the Lord’s Supper with a group of other preachers I realized I was a bit consumed by commitments.  My schedule looks like a crazed chicken with print cartridges for feet had been turned loose to run all over my calendar!  Here I was, contemplating what it would take to be a non-anxious presence as the celebrant, realizing (in that honest look-in-the-mirror moment), that I was probably the most-anxious guy who would sit at that table.   

It’s a common state of affairs these days; there’s just not enough time for everything you planned, much less what everybody else in your world wants.  As the Psalmist, it’s no trouble at all to make the leap from well, I’m a little busier than I’d like to be…all the way to stop this crazy merry-go-round, I need to get off before I explode!

The key word in that compound thought is OVERWHELMED! 

If you can honestly say you’ve never felt overwhelmed, you’re either quite disconnected from everyone and everything, and might consider checking with a psychotherapist for some new meds…or you’re not really being honest.  Anxiety, fear, concern, frazzled…there are so many ways to describe that sense in the pit of your stomach that alerts you to the fact that you can’t possibly complete all that life has dumped on your plate!

Then I read today’s Psalm again.  A Psalm generally appears 3 times each week in the Lectionary Readings, and I’m certain the Lord (knowing how dense I can be) ordained it that way.  Sometimes it takes much rain to soak a dry mind!  It finally sunk-in; the Psalmist knew how to sing woe, despair, and agony on me as well as anyone; in short – he is me!

And look what I discovered – the Psalmist opens up that part of my innermost being and lays it out for the sun to get at it – to chase the darkness and fear, to cull the briars from where I’m walking barefoot.  He opens the prayer book of my heart and the notes resonate deep-within how God, as my refuge from all the tormenting angst of the day’s demands, is all my heart really wanted anyway. 

And there is a reason for that.  Created in the image of God, even a sin-stained life can recognize the light that still lingers there, waiting to be set on the hills of our heart and soul.  It illuminates all the goodness of the hand of God from which we’ve sprung.  And it draws us to Him.  And that is enough to turn the anxiety of all the shortcomings I feel into nothing but gratitude for God’s grace.  If there is any place in this universe where Russell doesn’t come up short, it’s when he is bathed in the forgiveness of God’s loving embrace.

That’s a different kind of being overwhelmed; beloved, I’ll take that over what the world wants to give me…any day!

For You Today

If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by the workload, crises, world news, or what to do about your child’s failing grades in school….or maybe just the whole lot of what you’ve been dealing-with…take an extra moment with Psalm 142 today.  Nothing that’s been chasing you will stand a chance at robbing the peace you’ll find there.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!   

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©    

A Fortress Like No Other

 

Friday, January 22, 2021

Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken.  My victory and honor come from God alone.  He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.  O my people, trust in him at all times.  Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.  Psalm 62:5-8

      ·       Note – often, when writing these devotionals, I check back to see what I’ve written before on the same text, so I can list other posts on the same Scripture.  ^{(Hint:  check the footnotes)}.  This morning the check-back proved painfully fruitful.  Here’s what I wrote in October 2019 about Waiting in a Small Place:

When alone, particularly early in the morning as this moment can attest, I think of the life I’ve lived, and those small places that I return to…

·      stubborn, not submitted to Christ’s changing power

·      willful, hardly obedient, except if it can be seen by others

·      selfish, less than generous, except if it can be seen by others

·      fearful, not depending on the Rock of Jesus’ saving power

·      wavering, looking for a way out that I can see instead of faith-walking

·      wobbly-kneed, untrue, and crabby…hardly a tower of graciousness. 

Before I begin a day, I must always cover this ground in my prayers.  Like David, I know myself too well to imagine I’ll be just fine without God’s constant hand leading, and His Spirit forming me from the inside-out.

Now, what I wrote a year ago was true about Russell (and perhaps you as well).  And it was true about King David when he wrote Psalm 62 three-thousand years ago.  Truth doesn’t change, especially about human nature’s fragility.  Honestly most human beings spend more time than not in small places, inside our bubble, either denying vulnerability, or, perhaps, planning how to achieve safety in a scary world. 

King David knew both vulnerability and the false feeling of invincibility.  He began life as a sheep-tender, spending much time alone in the wilderness.  He spent some time in the company of a madman (King Saul), the object of a paranoid schizophrenic’s fear of losing his throne.  David also had to live with his sins, adultery, conspiracy, and murder of an innocent man.  As king, David was the most powerful man on earth at the time.  However, when he was alone with his thoughts, all David’s strength paled by comparison to the righteous, omnipotent power of Jehovah-God.  It’s easy (and right) to feel quite small at such times.

And yet David could write about that God, Jehovah, as the very reason to feel safe, to know safe and secure; this God of David’s was a fortress like no other.  And so the shepherd-turned-king could encourage his flock, Israel, to always trust God, and pour-out their hearts in prayer to Him. 

No matter what kind of scale you use to measure the importance of political views and policies, this world has always been a scary place. 

·       It is scary for Republicans to see the Democrats control, and the reverse is also true. 

·       It was hard, as a young child, for me to hear about the Russians dropping a nuclear bomb on my head. 

And when, at such times, I spend too much time inside my head, figuring out how I will survive, or what the government, or pandemics, or my own sins can do to unravel my life, it is time to stop that maddening process and run like a surprised jackrabbit to the fortress of my soul.  It is time to practice what I preach, placing all my trust in God.

For You Today

What does your fortress look like?  And, who built it? 

King David assures us that if your fortress is any place, person, or thing other than Christ’s outstretched arms, you’ve built yourself a house on a foundation of sand.  Better something built on the solid rock!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

For other posts on Psalm 62 see Lightweights in the Wind and Waiting in a Small Place      

 

The Twisting of Temptation

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Thursday, March 7, 2019

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  This I declare about the Lord:  He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.

If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home.  For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.  They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.  You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!       The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.  I will protect those who trust in my name.  When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble.  I will rescue and honor them.  I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”  Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16(NLT)

Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off!  For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you.  And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’”  Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”  Matthew 4:5-7(NLT)

Unless you grew up in a Catholic faith tradition, or one of a handful of Protestant denominations that celebrates the season of Lent, it’s probably not even on your radar.  (Except, perhaps for those crazy people walking around yesterday with dirt on their foreheads).

But let’s just say you did go to church yesterday, had the thumbprint of ashes imposed between your eyes, and made a vow to reflect on this season of 40 days preparation for Easter.  Did you also, as a matter of self-discipline and identification with the suffering of Jesus Christ, include in your vow abstaining from something meaningful?  And, if so, considering its already Day #2, are you still hanging-in there, or did Lucifer win…. again?

It seems so often we make resolutions that are supposed to be game-changers, life-changers, and we cave as surely as the sun comes up in the morning.  It gets to be a habit, as the broken well-intentioned promises pile-up through the years.  We learn to shrug, make a mental note to do better next year, and move on.

But, wait just a moment.  Was that vow just a desire to lose weight, or eat healthier, something you wanted to do anyway?  Was it a disposable religious ceremony that just kind of fit-in with your schedule?  Or was it really a vow to the Most High God in Whom you take your refuge?

The temptation Jesus faced was more than a game-changer; it was not even close to a game, this plan for our redemption enacted in Heaven before the foundation of the earth.  God knew He would square-off against Satan on this issue of human free will, despised before the dirt on Adam’s birthday suit was smoothed onto his frame.  God knew precisely about protecting his holy child from the temptation that held our eternity as the prize.  When the Psalmist wrote that God would protect all of that, it was not just taking a box of chocolates off the table.

So Lent is serious business.  That’s why Lucifer went to the Temptation Bowl in the desert, and why he pulled out all the stops, even using Scripture (which he always quotes quite accurately, by the way) to goad Jesus into the foolishness of tempting the Father. 

But, here’s the point at which temptation always fall apart:  Lucifer twists Scripture to fit his agenda; he never invites Scripture to create his agenda.  And therein is the lesson on how to please self – twist Scripture until it isn’t recognizable enough to have any effect on your life and it will leave you to do what you want!  People who prefer their sins to God’s life have no refuge that will last.  But those who take God at his (un-twisted) Word have a shelter in the storms of life, and a genuine refuge for the day of trouble.

For You Today

Lenten journey is on!  It’s not about the absence of chocolate; it’s all about the presence of truth from the Most High God.  You can trust Him in the wilderness.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[i] Title Image:   via Wikimedia.com