Psalm 91:1-2 “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” This episode talks about how the Lord is our refuge and our fortress. It also talks about the song "I'm Gonna Let It Go" by Jason Gray and how we are not in control, God is. The sooner we let things go the sooner He can help us. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Let It Go
Psalm 91:1-2 “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty”… Where does the almighty need to be if he is providing shade. Can a tree be on the other side of the yard and provide you shade? NO! The tree needs to be close to you. Or rather you need to be close to the tree. That is something the Lord keeps telling us. “Come close to me my children” is said in some form or another week after week in my prayer group. Does the Lord keep saying this because we are not listening? Think about your relationship with your heavenly Father. Do you feel he is calling you to come close to Him? What could you do this week to come closer to the Lord? Could you spend a few extra minutes in prayer? Could you sit quietly and just listen to hear what He has to say? Maybe you could spend a few extra minutes reading scripture? Or, maybe it is as simple as just spending a few extra minutes while you drink your coffee talking to Him. I am not sure what is right for you. Only you know that. I do know that He would not waste His time repeating this to us week after week if He didn’t really want us to come closer.
It goes on to say, “I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”” The words refuge and fortress seem to come up a lot when talking about God. Or at least it seems I am hearing them often. I just looked it up and refuge appears in the Bible 88 times. God is our refuge, that seems pretty clear. So what is a refuge? Refuge is a shelter or protection from danger or distress. That sounds about right. God is definitely our protection from danger or distress.
My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. Are we trusting that he is our refuge and fortress? Are we getting close and leaning in and letting his shade cover us? God will rescue you from your storm. He tells us this again and again. Sometimes we would feel better if there was no storm. We would like God to spare us from the storm all together. Doesn’t that sound nice? How great would it be to never have to worry about a storm, to just be safe all the time? Although that seems like it would be great, it wouldn’t. The storms are where we grow, they are what make us stronger. If we did not have any storms we would not need the Lord to rescue us. I heard this description the other day. Imagine you are an arrow. And you are getting ready to take flight and travel an amazing distance to a brand new place. However, you do not have the power to do that until the bow is pulled backwards and builds the tension and then you have the energy you need to go forward. God uses our storms to build us up so that we have the energy and strength to make it to a new place. We are always stronger after a storm.
Another way I have heard it explained by David Hollis is in reference to ships. If you are a ship, you are safe when you are in the harbor. You are less likely to encounter a storm when you are safe in the harbor. But that is not what ships were built for. Ships were built to leave the harbor and go out into the open seas. The same is true with you. You were not meant to sit by and watch the storms go by. You can’t grow if you avoid all the storms in your life. Yes, they are hard and they are not fun. They can be devastating and yet they can also be a source of great stength. If you are stuck in a stormy season right now I urge you to lean into God. Let Him be your shelter and you will be so much stronger when it passes. It will pass, they always pass. God makes sure of that. I know sometimes it may seem like you have been getting hit with storm after storm and you are wondering when they will pass. I assure you the end is in sight. Keep fighting, keep holding on, God’s got you.
I know I just talked about a song yesterday and I have no idea if you enjoyed that or not, but when this verse came up today I knew I was supposed to share this song with you. It actually goes well with the past few episodes as well. The song is about letting go of our worries and anxieties while we are in the storm. God is forever telling us not to worry and not to be anxious and yet we still struggle with it because we are all human. If you find yourself struggling right now, or you find that you are worrying more than you’d like I then I would like to suggest you listen to this song on repeat. It not only has good lyrics, but a pretty catchy tune too. Do people still say catchy anymore? Anyway, I will not sing it for you, as I am sure you don’t want that. I will go over some of my favorite parts, I will list all the words in the show notes, and I will also put a link so you can watch the lyric video if you like. (Click Here)
Here are the lyrics:
It's hard for me to let go, hard for me to breathe
Thinking that I gotta control it all
I can feel my worry and anxiety
When it's slipping through my fingers and I know it
I've been losing my sleep, I've been losing my cool
I can feel my heart go boom, boom, boom
Starin' at the ceiling, feeling like a fool
I'm going under and I know it
How many of us know exactly how he is feeling? How many of us feel like we have to control everything? We feel like if we don’t everything will fall apart. Then we feel extra anxious when it feels like it is all slipping through our fingers because if we can’t save it who will. Losing sleep and losing my cool is something that I have definitely experienced before. What about that line about feeling his heart go boom, boom, boom, how true is that. Can’t you just feel his anxiety when you hear the beginning words. Don’t worry, I am not going to leave you with that.
The song goes on to say:
But I hear You whisper to me
If I lose my grip I could see
That You are carrying me
This is true for all of us. If we loosen up our grip we would see that God has actual control. He is carrying us so we don’t have to worry about falling. But we can’t see this if we don’t loosen our grip.
Oh, I'm gonna let it
I'm gonna let it go
Oh, 'cause if I trust it
I could move with Your flow
Being carried in the current of Your love
When I lean into Your arms, You're enough
I love love love this line. “Being carried in the current of your love.” I can just picture being swept away in a gently flowing current of God’s love. First it says, if I trust it. This is the key. We can’t take that leap into the current if we don’t trust it will be there for us. Trust is hard and also so essential. God wants to help us trust Him, we just need to ask. I also love when it says “When I lean into your arms, You’re Enough.” I just picture God’s strong and gentle arms giving me a big hug as I lean in.
Time for me to let go, time for me to breathe
Knowing that He already holds it all
Time for me to turn down this anxiety
I can know my freedom in a moment
'Cause when I lay it all down, You gonna lift me up
When I pour it all out You gonna fill my cup
You're holding out Your arms and telling me to jump
One, two, three, here I go, yeah
What do you think is it time for you to let go, is it time for you to breathe? God is in control, as much as we feel like we are, its not the case. You can be free from this anxiety and worry. I love how he says, “When I lay it all down, your gonna lift me up. When I pour it all out, your gonna fill my cup.” This is exactly what happens. God lets us try to fix things ourselves if that is what we want. He only steps in when we put it down at His feet and ask Him to take over. Then He does. He will pick you up once you are ready to ask Him to. God is holding out His arms and He is asking you to jump. Are you ready?
Dear Heavenly Father I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord we ask that you give us strength in the storm. We thank you for being our refuge and fortress. We ask that you help us release control of our worries over to you. We thank you for the storms in our lives because we know that they are making us stronger. You are a good and faithful God and we love you. We want to jump into your arms Lord Jesus, help us. Give us the courage and the trust to take that leap of faith that you have been encouraging us to take. One, two three here were go Lord. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen
I’m Gonna Let It Go By: Jason Gray
It's hard for me to let go, hard for me to breathe
Thinking that I gotta control it all
I can feel my worry and anxiety
When it's slipping through my fingers and I know it
I've been losing my sleep, I've been losing my cool
I can feel my heart go boom, boom, boom
Starin' at the ceiling, feeling like a fool
I'm going under and I know it
But I hear You whisper to me
If I lose my grip I could see
That You are carrying me
Oh, I'm gonna let it
I'm gonna let it go
Oh, 'cause if I trust it
I could move with Your flow
Being carried in the current of Your love
When I lean into Your arms, You're enough
So, I'm gonna let it
I'm gonna let it go
Time for me to let go, time for me to breathe
Knowing that He already holds it all
Time for me to turn down this anxiety
I can know my freedom in a moment
'Cause when I lay it all down, You gonna lift me up
When I pour it all out You gonna fill my cup
You're holding out Your arms and telling me to jump
One, two, three, here I go, yeah
'Cause I hear You whisper to me
If I lose my grip I will see
You're always carrying me
Oh, I'm gonna let it
I'm gonna let it go
Oh, 'cause if I trusted
I could move with Your flow
Being carried in the current of Your love
When I lean into Your arms, You're enough
So, I'm gonna let it
I'm gonna let it go
Letting go of my worries (letting go of my worries)
And my need to control things (and my need to control things)
I'm gonna take You at Your word and (I'm gonna take You at Your word)
I'm gonna lay down all my burdens (all my burdens)
Letting go of my worries (letting go of my worries)
And my need to control things (and my need to control things)
I'm gonna take You at Your word and
I'm gonna lay down all my burdens (all my burdens)
Oh, I'm gonna let it
I'm gonna let it go
Oh, 'cause if I trusted
I could move with Your flow
Being carried in the current of Your love
When I lean into Your arms, You're enough
So, I'm gonna let it
I'm gonna let it go