Cruel Summer?
Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember you—even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan, from the land of Mount Mizar. I hear the tumult of the raging seas as your waves and surging tides sweep over me. But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life. Psalm 42:6 (NLT)
I have to admit: this summer’s been rough. It’s been rough for my family as we have hurtled obstacles and stretched between the few stepping-stones we can see before us. We have hopped and zigzagged and found ourselves swinging from a fraying rope. And now we are sort of panting, sitting on the bank and waiting, trying to catch our breath. It’s been rough for so many I know.
Somehow the deepest, most meaningful friendships in my life have been touched by tragedy, by confusion, by incredible shock in a span of just months. If I stop long enough to put my ear to the ground, I still hear the quaking that’s been rocking our world and it shatters my nerves. Just when I think the last tremor wreaks its havoc, another tremble is felt. It’s hard to watch those I love suffer so much. It’s hard to hear the words of despair and to run out of words to combat it. I’m tired myself. Some days I have felt I have nothing to offer anyway — I mean, look at my life.
I think so often we don’t talk about the hard things. It’s easy to get on this website and drum up some chitchat and some nice, flowing syllables. It’s easy to call attention to the waving hand, hoping the audience will be distracted from reality for a while. But in all of this crazy stress I have been met with and am still wading through with others, I think the Lord has spoken a few words to me that I hope will stick. Life is hard. People need the Lord.
No matter what they are facing, people need the Lord. No matter the loneliness, people need the Lord. No matter what face of the enemy is taunting them, people need the Lord. No matter how complex the matter, the simple truth is, people need the Lord. It’s easy to apply that truth to unbelievers, right? The first priority is their soul’s salvation, and then we can deal with the rest. But our salvation extends out from that first moment, into the days and weeks ahead, all the way to the end of our lives and beyond. He doesn’t save us to deal with life and then get a reward. He doesn’t wait at the finish line, hoping we can somehow muddle through. He doesn’t have his fingers crossed, hoping we remember everything we learned at VBS so that we can manage.
He’s the reason for this life, for every relationship, every smile, every tear, every wrinkle on our face. He is wrapped up in every experience we live through. He is under us, behind us, over us, bringing us every closer to oneness with Him. His nature is intercepting ours at every turn, beckoning us onward toward the only real goal in this life: knowing Him. Abiding in Him. Fellow-shipping with Him. Not just in the hard times, in the storms, or in the few ticks of life’s monumental decisions. We need Him for every bit of it, to complete us, to fill our deepest longings and to satisfy our hearts’ true desire. And when we begin to sense His presence in that way, to hear the deep calling to deep in our hearts and to feel the tide of His love washing over us, well….it lifts us above the fray and we glimpse eternity. Because that is what we were made for. And then we find real joy, no matter the circumstances, because the truth is life is hard, but eternity is our destination, and He is all we will ever — forever — need.
