As I saw in the First of January this year from the fellowship of a
small church in South Manchester, there is much I could not have planned for in
2024, except for having hope and expectations.
It has been quite an eventful year, and I am reminded of where to place
my focus, not in men, not on events, or the vicissitudes of life that serve to
both tempt and distract. I woke up one morning some time ago (that was
literally four years ago), and I had to find the verse in the Bible that said, “The
Lord who keeps me, neither slumbers nor sleeps.” Ps 121:4
Blog - He
shall preserve my soul, even forevermore
It was in Psalm 121 of which a rather melodious song derived from the meaningful
verses gives a sense that where all seems to go awry around us, there is a
place to find all you need to know that when others are losing their heads in
despair, despondency, dispute, disease, defeat, death or much worse, you will
neither lose your way nor sway.
Beyond the human to the spiritual
I will be the first to say when I faced the prospect of malignant
prostate cancer, I did not understand what was happening to me. Sometimes, a
thought raced through my mind like I was facing the looming abyss of destruction,
a sudden end over which I had become a victim of circumstances beyond
my control.
I entered my closet, the confines of my humble abode. I began to
playback messages of hope and encouragement, of life and living, of stories and
testimonies, of triumph and victory. No, I was not hopeless, the advantages of
medical science notwithstanding, the battle had to be won first in between my
ears before I knew I could win elsewhere.
Trust in the Lord, always
I feel the same about today for there was another expectation in the
human realm that had been dashed by some of the amazing mysteries of how
humanity chooses the worse over the better. It is not a new thing. Most of
the Israelites of the Bible in Exodus while quite desirous of being freed from
Egyptian bondage ended up perishing in the desert because they focused on worsening
circumstances over extraordinarily better assurances.
You learn with time that the earth is not on a trajectory to Paradise,
it is coming to an end by nature and anthropomorphic abuse, we look to
something new, something different, and more exciting than the natural mind can
fathom. You are left with one thing to ponder, where is your faith, your
assurance, your expectation, and your hope?
In that, I have the fullest confidence that this lies way beyond the
reach of the travails of humanity, I meditate in the life-giving sustenance of words
inspired by God to spew forth from the lips of men, on which to meditate and
find calm in the storms of life, wherefore, I can say without dissimulation, I
shall not be moved.
Read, recite, meditate
(1) A Song of degrees. I will lift up mine
eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
(2) My help cometh from the LORD, which made
heaven and earth.
(3) He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that
keepeth thee will not slumber.
(4) Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither
slumber nor sleep.
(5) The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is
thy shade upon thy right hand.
(6) The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon
by night.
(7) The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he
shall preserve thy soul.
(8) The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy
coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
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