Lately, I can share with you how my heart has been through the songs that have lingered there. I've felt much like a good cup of tea, seeping long over truths spoken so perfectly to my heart through each song that has drawn me in.
Don't we all need to be drawn in...and usually that also means being drawn away from other things, fixing our gaze only on what breathes life. That has been me. Beginning my mornings and ending my days in only the things that will never fade. His love for me. His provision for my life in times of darkness. His presence stronger still in the midst of these songs that are so precious because of the hope they hold as they speak of who God IS.
This song came to me from a friend. I had missed church a few Sunday mornings ago when it was first shared with those gathered. I had been struggling lately, and knowing that, my friend sent me this song over e-mail. One time through was all it took to bring me to tears and wish I could put it on repeat for hours with my face to the ground and heart open to receive who HE is to me...my protector.
After preparing for teaching my Sparks (Kindergarten-2nd graders) that day at AWANA, I realized I was scheduled to teach them about a passage in 2 Kings chapter 6 that was a REALLY incredible story I had never heard before. It was one where Elisha and his servant stood before an enemy army much bigger than their own. Overwhelmed, Elisha's servant grew fearful of the seemingly impossible task ahead of them, considering the size and number of the approaching army. Elisha, being a prophet, saw much more than what his servant could see with his human eyes, and prayed that God would open his servant's eyes to see the situation for what is really was. God did, and immediately Elisha's servant was able to see the armies of angels God had surrounded the enemy with that far outnumbered their foe. Seeing the TRUTH changed everything.
Knowing the same friend who had sent me this song was also struggling with an incredibly difficult circumstance in her life, I sent her this story, praying she would be encouraged and reminded that God never leaves us to fight our battles on our own.
Niether one of us realized it at the moment, but we had both given each other the same story. The song she had given me was written with this same story from scripture in mind. God used Elisha to remind us BOTH that the battle we both felt so intensely for different reasons in our life, was already won.
When days are dark and hope seems like a distant light instead one close and familiar, illuminating my next step...I let this song ring through my house and remind my heart what my mind has been trained to know since I was small. And I sing...
I know who goes before me...I know who stands behind.
The God of Angel Armies, is always by my side.
The One who reigns forever...He is a FRIEND of mine (amazing!)
The God of Angel Armies, is always by my side!
I pray you are blessed by the same truth today, right in the middle of your own circumstances...knowing there is nothing and no one to fear when we know WHO fights in our place...
