This is traditionally April Fool’s Day, a time when, as kids, we played pranks or told weird stories or thought of news that wasn’t news at all, and after careful narratives, ended with a hearty, “April Fools!”
I’m afraid much of which we are experiencing in the news and in rumblings of new détentes, the arrest of a former President, news of yet another railroad accident, more devastation from tornadoes, and the targeting shooting at Covenant Christian School in Nashville, we only wish we were hearing, “April Fools!” But the reality is, we are living in a fallen society where the good is suppressed, our faith is flagging and all but disappearing, even as Holy Week dawns tomorrow, and we cringe at the horrors on the horizon, for fallen humanity indeed acts like fools.
We are like sheep who have gone astray, each to his own way, and are more and more in need of our Savior.
We need strength. In Bible times, people journeyed to Jerusalem, on the high hill, and they repeated the Psalm: I will lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence cometh my strength. My strength cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” Oh, that our society today would reach to the Lord, raising uplifted arms, acknowledging that we sojourn in a strange land and are lost without God’s guidance and need to rely on His strength when ours fails.
Here is My Psalm337 Strength:
MY PSALM 337 STRENGTH FOR NEW CHALLENGES
Heavenly Father, Lord and Master,
There is a balm in Gilead where the sin-sick
And world-weary can go to find succor, healing and rest.
And beside those still waters You lead me still
To restoration and revelation of Your mercy and grace.
And perhaps, when my weary feet can gain the altitude,
You’ll lead me once again to the hills
From whence comes my strength.
There glimpses of the horizon reveal hope,
Inspire me to continue climbing
Until I regain my composure,
Because You lift me up, You let me see Your glory.
And when I am ready, when You know I can bear
To learn the teachable lessons You have prepared
For my soul to learn, You will lead me where I dare not go:
Where the path is rocky, the borders jagged,
The twists and turns terrify.
New trials I fear considering,
Confusion, defeat, and despair
Bring dimming tears to steal my vision,
And I tread with fear that I will stumble.
I may fall, and lose my precious dignity.
There You will tell me again of Your love and mercy
When I most need You to reach me where I am.
Your grace will be sufficient for that day
Even as it is for this day’s troubles.
I’ll once again know Your Eternal Presence,
Close up and personal, when I get myself out of the way.
I will find comfort in Your healing balm
When I stop feeling sorry for myself and look only to You.
I will once again rest in Your loving arms,
And in truth experience the true balm of Gilead.
For as the old spiritual says:
“There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole,
there is a balm in Gilead
to heal the sin-sick soul.
Sometimes I feel discouraged
and think my work’s in vain,
but then the Holy Spirit
revives my soul again. Refrain
If you cannot preach like Peter,
if you cannot pray like Paul,
you can tell the love of Jesus
and say, “He died for all.” Refrain”[1]
Because of Your eternal love and mercy
I can pray in the Blessed Name of Jesus. Amen.
[1] Spiritual. www.hymnary.org. stanza originally published in 1869 as “Hark the Voice of Jesus Calling” by Daniel March in the Lutheran Hymnal. http://www.lutheran-hymnal.com/lyrics/lw318.htm
About the Author
