“When I thought,’My foot slips,’ your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.” Psalm 94:18-19 ESV
The Bible doesn’t promise a care-free life. My foot will slip (and I literally slip more than I’d like to admit, and I never see it coming). My heart will have cares, because living in this world is hard. There’s no way around it. And sometimes being in the world but not of it wears me out.
But despite my slipping foot and my care-filled heart, we see that truths about God sustain us:
- He loves us with steadfast love (I LOVE these two words!)
- He holds us up (in His strength, not mine)
- He consoles us, providing comfort in grief or disappointment
- He cheers our soul, our innermost selves
I often hear my students saying “I gotchu” among their friends, letting them know they have their backs (and that’s probably why the phrase has made its way into my vernacular). Well, God’s “got us” in all things. Hard moments will come, but God will hold us, and even cheer our souls (how cool is that, God wants to cheer your soul!). This is why we can rejoice during difficult and overwhelming times.
Because He is with us day and night.
“By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.” Psalm 42:8 ESV
Because God is with us and in control of all things.
I need to be active and intentional at setting Him before me, replying on His promises of steadfast love. . . and He wants me to rely on Him!
“I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” Psalm 16:8 ESV
Because God’s steadfast love and grace (so thankful for this!) are ours because Jesus died and rose for us.
“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:32 ESV
So when you slip, and when your heart is heavy, remember the truth about who God is.
What specific truth about God can hold you up right now?
“When I thought,’My foot slips,’ your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.” Psalm 94:18-19 ESV
