Come Learn Rest Ministries

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up;
God is our salvation.
~Psalm 68:19

So far Lent has been a series of days in which I practice letting the Lord bear me up.   In simple ways, I am seeking to unburden my overloaded life.  But still, I find myself wondering what it looks like for the Lord to stand in the midst of our daily lives and bear us up.  Luke’s gospel offers the following visual.

And he, Jesus, came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all. ~Luke 6:17-19

Those who stood on level ground with the Lord’s disciples formed a great multitude no different from you and me.  They came believing  Jesus could and trusting Jesus would lift the load of their diseases and unclean spirits. And indeed by the power of his presence, their lives were no longer troubles but blessed with physical, emotional and spiritual healing. These people went home without their burden but overloaded with blessing.  We can go home the same way.

During these days of Lent, may you and I stand so near Jesus that we feel his powerful presence overloading us with blessing.

Blessed are you O Lord, who daily bears us up.

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
~Psalm 27:1 (ESV)

Each new day as the sun rises, I am reminded that the Lord is my Light and my Salvation. Each year as Lent begins I am reminded that suffering is a part of our lives. However,  the Lord uses our fears and our suffering to reveal to us that he is the stronghold of our lives. This poem by Robert Southwell beautifully describes how suffering is never wasted.

O dying souls! behold your living spring;
O dazzled eyes! behold your sun of grace;
Dull ears attend what word this Word doth bring;
Up, heavy hearts, with joy your joy embrace.
From death, from dark, from deafness, from despairs,
This life, this light, this Word, this joy repairs.

Jesus once again addressed them: “I am the world’s Light.  No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness.  I provide plenty of light to live in.”  John 8:12 (MSG)

Blessed are you, O Lord, who is my Light and my Salvation.