What I Shall Cling To

SATURDAY 2.23.08 - PSALM 118:13-17
I was pushed back and about to fall, but the LORD helped me. The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: "The LORD's right hand has done mighty things! The LORD's right hand is lifted high; the LORD's right hand has done mighty things!" I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done.

Okay, so this was supposed to be yesterday's reading but I was so busy relaxing that I didn't want to descend to the basement or bother Gaby by invading his room to blog. So I read Numbers yesterday, which wasn't quite the enthralling reading that we were supposed to have in following the Lent readings.

I wish I could always keep this verse before me. I wish that I could be filled with the spirit to sing it. And so I'm going to choose that spirit today.

Two things that I love about this verse, brilliantly written and so true to life:

#1 - "The LORD is my strength and my song..." This is present tense, right now, the LORD is my strength. Right now the LORD is my song. It doesn't matter what my life is taking me through, through troubles or joys, through anything: right now, the LORD is my strength and my song. This is what it means to live in joy, and thus to live in victory. Sure, there are times when this is more difficult than others. But...

Okay, so I've been frustrated with the fast because it hasn't been as spiritual as I would have liked it to be. But, as has been mentioned here a lot, I've realized that the focus has been on me, Exodus, Courtney and I, whatever. The focus must be on You. If I focus on me, then things are not going to be joyful or victorious much of the time. Indeed, they will usually be failure after failure if I focus on my feelings and my actions. But...the LORD, You, You be my strength, You be my song.

#2 - "He has become my salvation." It's interesting that this is not necessarily an all time thing like "my strength and my song." There was a journey to the point of Your salvation. Maybe, no not maybe, I know that it is like this in every trial, in every struggle. You become the salvation. That's a reality I rarely live in.

I mean honestly, I bought this book called "A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society," hoping that it would back up my conviction that one of the most detrimental things to true Christ-following is expecting a fast-food, instant God. And how have I treated You throughout this fast...like a fast-food, instant God. Oh God, I don't feel You - change it now! Ah, I'd like to mark that down as passion, but perhaps it's just impatience. Real worship is in spirit and in truth, and an instant God isn't truth. It's a long walk. You will become salvation.

So, as I go out...You are my strength, You are my song, become my salvation!