Saturday, May 15, 2010, 2:31 a.m. – I first woke at 1:27 a.m., then I went back to sleep, and then I woke again at 2:31 a.m. My knees are cramping, so I can’t sleep. I woke to this song playing in my mind:
By Your Side / Tenth Avenue North
Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying
Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away
Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run
And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you
Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life
Cause I, I love you
I want you to know
That I, I love you
I'll never let you go
When I got up out of bed, this phrase was in my mind: “Oil rig explosion.” The Lord has been showing me much about that lately. I sat down with my paper, pen and Bible and I began to have my quiet time with the Lord. I prayed, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Then, I read Psalm 123:
My Understanding: I got on-line and checked out the news. This was the latest news story about the oil rig explosion: Obama pledges permit review, end to cozy oil links - Excite News - Obama pledges permit review, end to cozy oil links. As I read this news story, I could not help but connect it with this last verse in this Psalm 123:
We have endured much ridicule from the proud,
much contempt from the arrogant.
The part of the song that was going through my mind over and over again was the part where it said:
And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you
And, I noted that this Psalm also spoke of God’s hands:
As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God…
In all that is going on in this crazy world of ours, God is asking us to realize that he is by the side of those who are truly His. He is there for us when we call. And, he asks us not to fight His hands that are holding us. This Psalm also encourages us to look to the hands of God; to look to the LORD our God till he shows us mercy.
I find much comfort in knowing that God’s hands are holding me. Just hearing that phrase in the song this morning, “These hands that are holding you” was enough for me to know the presence of God in my life in that he was letting me know that he was holding me through the circumstances of my life, as well. The song says:
Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life
This gives us even a deeper meaning to the “hands that are holding you,” as these were the hands that had nails pounded through them and that hung on the cross for our sins. These were hands of our Lord who gave his life for us so that we could go free. He wants us to put our complete faith and trust in Him and not in man and not in man’s resources because man will fail us but only God can give us life. He wants to give us life because he loves us.
By Your Side / Tenth Avenue North
Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying
Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away
Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run
And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you
Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life
Cause I, I love you
I want you to know
That I, I love you
I'll never let you go
When I got up out of bed, this phrase was in my mind: “Oil rig explosion.” The Lord has been showing me much about that lately. I sat down with my paper, pen and Bible and I began to have my quiet time with the Lord. I prayed, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Then, I read Psalm 123:
My Understanding: I got on-line and checked out the news. This was the latest news story about the oil rig explosion: Obama pledges permit review, end to cozy oil links - Excite News - Obama pledges permit review, end to cozy oil links. As I read this news story, I could not help but connect it with this last verse in this Psalm 123:
We have endured much ridicule from the proud,
much contempt from the arrogant.
The part of the song that was going through my mind over and over again was the part where it said:
And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you
And, I noted that this Psalm also spoke of God’s hands:
As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the LORD our God…
In all that is going on in this crazy world of ours, God is asking us to realize that he is by the side of those who are truly His. He is there for us when we call. And, he asks us not to fight His hands that are holding us. This Psalm also encourages us to look to the hands of God; to look to the LORD our God till he shows us mercy.
I find much comfort in knowing that God’s hands are holding me. Just hearing that phrase in the song this morning, “These hands that are holding you” was enough for me to know the presence of God in my life in that he was letting me know that he was holding me through the circumstances of my life, as well. The song says:
Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life
This gives us even a deeper meaning to the “hands that are holding you,” as these were the hands that had nails pounded through them and that hung on the cross for our sins. These were hands of our Lord who gave his life for us so that we could go free. He wants us to put our complete faith and trust in Him and not in man and not in man’s resources because man will fail us but only God can give us life. He wants to give us life because he loves us.
