There’s a beautiful worship song by a group called Vertical Worship titled, "Yes, I will". If you haven’t heard it, I encourage you to look it up. We were singing it in worship this past Sunday, and the words really spoke to me.
For context's sake, I should share that my word of focus for the year is JOY. When I first picked this word a couple months ago, I noted somewhat sarcastically to God that considering what I knew was coming on January 20th, joy was going to be hard to come by. And I felt as though God kind of chuckled as He replied, "That’s why you should choose it." So here I am.
It is hard to find joy in dark and desperate times. Maybe I have a little practice on this because I the work I do is often quite dark and desperate as well. I work at an organization that helps victims of child abuse and neglect, and my role there is to teach professionals who work with children and families about trauma. It can be rewarding work, but it can also be very challenging. When I share with others what I do, people often say to me, "That must be really hard. How do you do it?"
There are many possible answers to that question, but one is that when working in darkness you have to find glimmers of hope or healing. Or, perhaps we could say, glimmers of joy. It is those moments which keep you going.
In these dark and desperate times, we all need to be on the lookout for moments of hope, moments of healing, and yes, moments of joy. Those moments will help keep us going.
Back to the song. The chorus of the song says this:
Oh, yes, I will lift You high in the lowest valley
Yes I will bless Your name
Oh, yes, I will sing for joy when my heart is heavy
All my days
Oh, yes, I will
For all my days
Oh, yes, I will
And I choose to praise
To glorify, glorify
The name of all names
That nothing can stand against
What a powerful reminder that all of this is just temporary aches and pains (see Romans 8:18). God is still the name that nothing can stand against. He is still deserving of all the glory and all the honor and all the praise. When we are in the lowest valley, even the valley of the shadow of death (as David says in Psalm 23), we can choose to lift Him high. Even when our hearts are heavy, we can choose to sing for joy.
We fix our eyes on things above, as Paul says. This doesn’t mean we close our eyes to what’s happening here on earth, or that we don’t continue to fight for the poor or oppressed as the Bible tells us to. No, we keep fighting the good fight. We keep the faith. We run the race.
There is no other option given to us but to keep going forward.
The blessing is - God is with us every step of every day. God mourns with us, suffers with us, and celebrates with us. His very presence, His very being, is enough to be worthy of all our praise.
Perhaps this is how Paul was able to pen these words in Romans 5:3-5, "We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."
I will not let the circumstances of our current environment steal my joy. Steal my peace. Steal my hope. Because my hope lies in Him.
In our country as a Church, we have grown too comfortable, too relaxed in our privilege and position. Let this time of discomfort be an opportunity to turn to God, to grow more in Him, and to rely on Him for the strength for every day.
As well indeed, for the joy.
DID YOU KNOW... You can subscribe to my blog through Substack? No membership required and free! Check it out, here: https://substack.com/@jadedevangelical.
Add comment
Comments