Psalm 121:1-2 “I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” Today's episode reminds us of where our strength comes from. It looks at a song called "Shoulders" by for King and Country. The episode looks at various ways that the Lord is there for 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/
My Help Comes From The Lord!
Psalm 121:1-2 “I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”
I was going to do another part of this verse this morning, and then the song The Lord woke me up happened to be all about the beginning part of this verse. I will cover the other verse in a later episode. I really like this song because it reminds us of where our true strength comes from. It reminds us that no matter the situation we are in, our Lord is there, and He is looking out for us. We can often look to the world for the answer to our problems. We can look to the world for strength, and yet that is not where our strength is found. It says in Philippians 4:7, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” The Lord is where our strength comes from, not anything of this world. This is what the song reminds us. The song is called “Shoulders” by For King and Country.
It begins by saying:
… I look up to the mountains
Does my strength come from the mountains?
No, my strength comes from God
Who made heaven and earth, and the mountains
This reminds us that our strength doesn’t come from the mountains it comes from the one that made the mountains. The one who made heaven and earth. Our strength comes from God, who is always there for us. He created everything, including us, and He is always with us.
Next the song says:
… When confusion's my companion
And despair holds me for ransom
I will feel no fear
I know that You are near
God is always near us. The enemy likes to use tactics like confusion on us because it can get us thinking about everything else other than God. He likes to get us focused on specifics and lost in all the weeds instead of focusing on what is most important. Which is that the Lord loves us and just wants us to love Him back. How we love Him can be different for each one of us. The enemy wants to get us confused and focused on all the wrong things. I like how the verse says, “And despair holds me for ransom.” Isn’t that a great visual of how despair works? When you feel despair, you feel hopeless. You feel like nothing will ever change, and you feel like you are held hostage by your feelings and your thoughts. However, you aren’t hostage. That is a trick from the enemy. The Lord wants you to be free. We don’t need to fear. We just need to remember that the Lord is always near us and that He is where our strength comes from. Whenever we are struggling, we can turn our eyes to the Lord and He will give us the strength that we need.
The song goes on to say:
… When I'm caught deep in the valley
With chaos for my company
I'll find my comfort here
'Cause I know that You are near
How many of us have been caught deep in the valley? It wasn’t one we thought we would be in, it just kind of snuck up on us. I think we have all been in a valley at one time or another. Some valleys might be deeper than others, but we have all been in a valley. When we were in that valley, we had chaos for our companion. We were so confused because we knew God, we loved God, and yet we were in this valley and didn’t understand how we were there if we knew God.
If you are in a valley right now, I want you to know that God is right there with you in this valley. I am not sure why He is allowing you to go through this valley, but I do know you are not alone in the valley. I know you may feel alone; that is what the enemy wants you to think, but you are never alone. God is walking right there by your side. In the chaos and the confusion of the enemy, you may not see or hear God, just know that He is there. Reach out to Him and talk with Him. I guarantee He is there with you! You are never alone! Not even for a second.
Next the song says:
… My help comes from You
You're right here, pulling me through
You carry my weakness, my sickness, my brokenness
All on Your shoulders
Your shoulders
This reminds us that God is our help. He is the one who is right there by our side, pulling us through when we don’t think we can make it another day. Have you ever made it through something and wondered how you made it through? It was because God was pulling you through. He was making sure that the thing He was allowing to happen did not swallow you up and take you out. He knew you needed to go through it, but not so you could get lost in it or be defeated by it.
It says, “You carry my weakness, my sickness, my brokenness all on your shoulders.” God does this for us. He doesn’t make us carry it alone. He takes our problems, our illness, and our brokenness and carries it on His shoulders to make our burdens a bit lighter. If you haven’t invited God into your current situation can I invite you to do so right now. You will be surprised how much lighter your burdens feel when you invite the Lord in to help you carry them.
… My help comes from You
You are my rest, my rescue
I don't have to see to believe that
You're lifting me up on Your shoulders
Your shoulders
Again, this is reminding us that God is our rest and our rescue. God can give us rest. He can provide all the rest we need if we let Him. Sometimes, we don’t see the rest the Lord wants us to take, and He has to force rest upon us. Sometimes, He provides rest just when we need it the most. God is so good, and He knows what we need. If we won’t take the rest we need voluntarily, sometimes He creates a situation where we need to take a rest and recuperate.
I like how it also says, “I don’t have to see to believe that you are lifting me up on Your shoulders.” I wish this was the case all the time. However, sometimes we do need to see it to believe. We know God is with us, and yet we long to see Him to believe it. I love the visual of God lifting us up on His shoulders. It reminds me of when we were little kids and we got tired of walking, so our dad picked us up and put us on his shoulders. Are you tired of walking? Are you tired of how hard everything is in life? Do you wish things were simpler? Ask the Lord to pick you up and place you on your shoulders. Invite Him into your situation and He will take your burdens from your shoulders and place them on His.
Next the song says:
… You mend what once was shattered
And You turn my tears to laughter
Your forgiveness is my fortress
Oh, Your mercy is relentless
Did you know God could mend what once was shattered? You may have situations in your life that seem like they are beyond repair. They aren’t; the Lord can fix them. You might think your situation is hopeless and that you will be sad forever. You won’t be, the Lord can turn your tears into laughter. I love that it says, “Your forgiveness is my fortress.” We can find so much comfort and even protection in the Lord’s forgiveness. The enemy can try to use the things we have done against us. However, if we hide behind the walls of the Lord’s forgiveness, the enemy can’t get us there. If we remind ourselves of the Lord’s forgiveness, we can be protected from this.
It also says, “your mercy is relentless.” God’s mercy is relentless. It will chase us down. The Lord does not want to lose a single one of His children. He will fight of us. He will come running after us. His mercy can find us in the pit of despair, it can find us on top of the mountain. Wherever we are, God’s mercy and grace can find us and help us.
The song ends with:
… My help is from You
Don't have to see it to believe it
My help is from You
Don't have to see it, 'cause I know, 'cause I know it's true
This is so true. We don’t have to see it to believe it. Sometimes, God works in ways that we can’t see. And yet, we know He is there. We can’t see Him, but we can see the fruit of His work. We can feel the fog lifting. We can feel the depression lifting. At times, we can feel something, and even though we don’t know exactly what it is, we know it is a gift from the Lord. He is so good! We can just believe that the Lord is true to His promises and that He will be there for us when we need Him because He is always right there with us.
I hope this song helped you feel a bit stronger this morning. I hope it reminds you of where your true strength comes from. I hope if you are going through a difficult time or you feel like you could use a bit more strength these days that you hear this song and are reminded of all the ways God can help us. I invite you to go to YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you go to listen to Christian music, and you listen to this song today. It is called Shoulders by For King and Country.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing. We thank you for always being there for us. We ask that if we have forgotten to invite you into our situation, we will do that now. We ask that if we have taken our eyes off of you, you would help us place them back on you. Lord, we love you, and we ask all this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day and may the grace and favor of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you.
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in May 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I am thankful for the gift of praise that you sent to me this day. ”