What sustains you?
The Oxford Dictionary defines sustain as to “strengthen or support physically or mentally; bear (the weight of an object) without breaking or falling.”
Sustain is defined by dictionary.com as “to support, hold, or bear up from below; bear the weight of, as a structure; to keep (a person, the mind, the spirits, etc.) from giving way, as under trial or affliction.”
What gives you the physical and mental strength to bear difficulty without breaking?
What supports you and keeps you from giving way under the weight of trials or affliction?
What sustains you when troubles come?
In his book Soul Keeping, John Ortberg says, ”Sooner or later, your world will fall apart. What will matter then is the soul you have constructed”.
David, the psalmist King, knew this.
In his psalms, we see David’s soul under construction. He writes of battles and betrayals, of disease and despair, and of searching for God in the midst of life’s most difficult moments. In each trial, David learned through experience to trust God’s faithful love more and more.
David discovered that his help, his sustainer, is not a what, but a Who.
God is my helper;
the Lord is the sustainer of my life.
Psalm 54:4
David learned to trust in God’s character in times of trouble, the character revealed in God’s name.
But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth.
Psalm 86:15
The Lord is a refuge for the persecuted,
a refuge in times of trouble.
Those who know your name trust in you
because you have not abandoned
those who seek you, Lord.
Psalm 9:9-10
David learned to talk to God, to share the anguish of his soul and to ask for what he needed.
Listen to my prayer, O God,
do not ignore my plea;
hear me and answer me.
My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught
because of what my enemy is saying,
because of the threats of the wicked;
for they bring down suffering on me
and assail me in their anger.
My heart is in anguish within me;
. . .
Cast your cares on the Lord
and he will sustain you;
he will never let
the righteous be shaken.
Psalm 55:1-4a, 22 NIV
I call on you, God,
because you will answer me;
listen closely to me; hear what I say.
Psalm 17:6
David learned to talk to his soul, to remind himself to deliberately place his hope in God and to choose praise in the midst of turmoil.
Why, my soul, are you so dejected?
Why are you in such turmoil?
Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him,
my Savior and my God.
Psalm 42:5
But as for me, I will always have hope;
I will praise you more and more.
Psalm 71:14 NIV
David learned the one thing necessary to construct a soul that can withstand troubled times: to seek God.
The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then I will be confident.
One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.
For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock.
Psalm 27:1, 3-5 NIV
David constructed a soul that depended completely on God to sustain him in difficult times.
We can too.
When troubles come, we can first look up to God, our Helper, instead of frantically looking around for help.
We can choose to trust in God’s character and His faithful love.
We can talk to God honestly about our struggles and ask Him for what we need.
We can preach the truth to ourselves, building a foundation of hope in God that can withstand the storm of feelings that rise up in times of crisis.
We can seek God in the midst of difficulty, orienting our soul toward Him by reading His Word to remind us of who He is and taking refuge in the shelter of His faithful love.
Like David, we can see every trial as an opportunity to seek God, to trust God more, and to fortify our souls with His faithful love and truth.
We can trust God to sustain us, no matter what comes our way.
The Jokester continued, “Well don’t be coming home pregnant.” Now they both were laughing, and honestly so was I. I giggled to myself at their banter. I smiled at their lighthearted friendship knowing there was no offense given and none taken.
Through all our years of marriage I’ve learned many things about studs that I did not know as a young bride of 21. I knew there were boards within the walls of buildings. And I knew they were needed to support the roof. But that’s about all I knew those many years ago.
I also learned that studs are usually made of particular kinds of wood. Softwood is generally used behind the walls for construction projects, whereas hardwoods are used for the beautiful furniture and embellishments we see in the rooms of our homes. Softwoods are generally coniferous trees such as pine and cedar, those that grow quickly and do not lose their leaves in the fall. While hardwoods are deciduous trees, like oaks, which lose their leaves. Softwood is preferred because it is easier to saw, plane, bore, and nail because of the structure within the wood, and I wonder, if not possibly because it grows more quickly and trees can be replaced within a few years rather than decades.
3 – Your “studs” need to be the right size. If I tried using a 1×4 within the walls of my home I would find them collapsing under the weight of the roof. If I used 1/4 inch plywood it would be even worse. If I cut my studs too short, I’d find myself having to duck my head when I entered my home. We would never do that, and would consider it shoddy work if a builder we hired did such a thing. However, we frequently build this way in spiritual matters. We take shortcuts and don’t measure up. We grasp onto one verse and use it as a proof-text for what we believe. We ignore the harder teachings of scripture because they are too challenging, they convict us too much, or because we haven’t read enough of His word to know better. We need to be students of the Word on a daily, methodical journey to learn all we can of God’s ways and the nature of the world through His Word. Anything short of observing the full counsel of the Word of God, is taking shortcuts and not measuring up in our building materials.
by guest blogger Kelly Archer
I stood there with tears in my eyes… to which Nick replied…
So my kiddo started a new ‘game’ lately. When I’m walking, he puts his head against my back and follows right behind me. My EVERY move. I go left, he goes left. I go right, he goes right. I go faster or slower, he goes faster or slower. He can’t see around me so he’s trusting my every move to be his next step. Sounds like loads of fun, right?! My thoughts too. Until I started realizing that this is exactly how God wants us to be with Him. Relentless faith. Following so closely and trusting His every move. Not looking at what’s around us, or what obstacles may come, or even the outcome, but following His every step. Having our eyes fixed on Him. Or in this case, our heads.
As much as we want to know our future or what’s next, Jesus doesn’t lay out a plan of our entire life for us and then tell us to decide if we want it or not. He simply says, “Follow me.” He wants us to let Him be our eyes and our shield as we take refuge in Him. He wants us to have relentless faith, trusting Him enough to lay down our lives to follow Him, keeping our eyes fixed on Him, taking one step of obedience at a time, and trusting Him with the outcome. Letting HIM direct our paths, as we follow every step He takes. He may not take us on the paths we thought, or even the roads we chose, but we can be sure of this, He will never leave us nor forsake us. And, He will ALWAYS work things out for the good of those who love Him and are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
Recently Scott Martin began receiving a monthly parcel in the mail. The content of said parcel is most definitely of value but my favorite feature is the stamp on the top right of the envelope. I giggled when the first introduction to this monthly parcel yielded a batman stamp. From then on I’ve found myself looking forward to the choice of stamp atop his parcel. There have been, presidents, scenery, landmarks, and just for the eclipse last year, some eclipse ones, you can hold your thumb over the picture of the moon and it will eclipse. We kept that one and put it on the fridge.
I had attempted to discard them several times since the meeting but I just couldn’t do it. They make me smile. I feel nostalgic when I see them. I wonder about the mail they’ve carried across the world. What those letters might’ve said, who might’ve written them. I’ve wondered about the hands that have purchased them and those that have removed them from their parcels. I’ve even wondered if the spit that licked them might be analyzed to reveal the licker was famous. Perhaps JFK licked that 1/2 cent Ben Franklin when he wrote to Jackie. Far-fetched and symptomatic of a way too overly active imagination I’m sure.
Now it was time to start the task of entering the names in my brand-new address book. As I completed the first page I realized that the names were not in alphabetical order. I looked back at my spreadsheet and realized that after all the work of getting all of the names in my computer list, I had forgotten to do that one last thing, to press the one button that would have placed all of the names in ABC order.
Obedience – In “Seuss”-ical Style
Priceless 