"My help comes from the Lord"

       

        We have a number of dear friends who are enduring storms right now.  Some small squalls, but others mammoth, terrifying hurricanes.  Cancer, death of loved ones, mental or physical illnesses, prodigals, depression...trials and troubles of all shapes and sizes.  Oh Father, how we want to be able to help in some tangible, real way.  How we long to transform their circumstances,  to lift their burdens, to redeem the darkness that surrounds them.
         As I sit here, looking out over the valley, I see light dancing with darkness.  Menacing, swirling clouds interspersed with shafts of light.  That's how my heart feels right now, Abba.   Frustrated.  Worried. Wondering.  Beseeching.  Sorrowful...yet certain in the sovereignty of our Sovereign King.  Longing to help...but feeling utterly unable to do so.
         But...but even in the clouds and confusion, we know the One who can.  We know the One who can and does and forever will help.
         His words speak to my wounded heart this morning, just as fresh and new as the moment my Father first inspired them to be recorded:
        "I lift up my eyes to the hills.  From where does my help come?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth."  Yes, He is our help.  Look around you at His magnificent creation.  Stand amazed...and then kneel in wonder, for that awesome Creator is your Help.  You may feel helpless...but He is your perfect provision of help in every situation, in every way, in every time and place.
        "He will not let your foot be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.  Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep."  You can go ahead and let go of that weight of worry.  Rest.  Rest and sleep, because the Almighty One is keeping your loved one company.  He never, ever slumbers, and Zephaniah 3:17 tells us He quiets with His love and sings songs to His beloved children.  So let it go, listen for His song, and rest in Him.
         "The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.  The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.  The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life.  The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore." (Ps.121)
         Meaning our eternal destiny is safe in His nail-scarred hands.  Whether it's our ultimate home-going to heaven or our home-staying on this planet, He will keep us, hold us, love us, redeem us, and carry us all the way Home.
         No matter the trouble, no matter the trials, no matter the depth of the darkness, He is greater still and is somehow, someway using it all, all, all for our ultimate good and His glory.
       

        The Lord works in the light and the dark....like those clouds that darken the sky...but bring healing, nourishing, necessary rain to the crops and plants and life below.  We may not be able to see the sun behind those clouds...but it is there, shining in the heavens.  By tomorrow morning, we may be looking on an entirely different landscape--perhaps bright, clean, and clear.  But no more beautiful than these swirling, rain-filled clouds.  Just different.
         So thank You, Father, that You are our Helper.  Our Keeper.  Our Protector.  Our Perfecter.  Our Redeemer.  Our Savior and Lord.  In the sunshine and bright blue skies...and in the clouds and rain.  Sovereign and powerful over it all, and redeeming and using it all.  For our good.  For Your glory.  Forever.
         Thank You that no matter where we are right now, no matter what we or our loved ones are enduring right now, You, You, You are our Helper and our Hope.  We look to You, Father.
         To God be the glory.