Not Forsaken

In case you haven't noticed, music is an essential part of my life.  It ministers to my soul like nothing else -- which is why I decided last year that I needed to switch to a mostly-Christian-music "diet."  I don't know if I could have survived without it. 

Okay.  Perhaps that's a bit of an exaggeration... but you know what I mean.  ;o)

So much of my focus has been on music that is currently played on the radio, I had almost forgotten about some of the "oldies" that were staples in the house where I grew up.  My mom reminded me of a couple of those songs today, which I promptly purchased in iTunes tonight.  They're not by the same artist I sang along with as a little girl -- who, ironically, now sings opera (a genre that I do not enjoy.  At.  All.). 

Anyway...  :o)

This afternoon I asked my mom to tell me about a time which she considered to be the hardest in her life -- a time when she wondered if things were ever going to improve, since that's where I find myself now.  After she shared her answer, she said that when she was going through her lowest point she "lived" this song:

Praise the Lord
(Brown Bannister, Mike Hudson)

When you're up against a struggle
That shatters all your dreams
And your hopes have been cruelly crushed
By Satan's manifested scheme
And you feel the urge within you
To submit to earthly fears
Don't let the faith you're standing in, seem to disappear

(Chorus)

Praise the Lord
He can work through those who praise Him,
Praise the Lord
For our God inhabits praise,
Praise the Lord
For the chains that seem to bind you
Serve only to remind you that they drop powerless behind you
When you praise Him

Talk about hitting home.  Struggles?  Check.  Shattered dreams?  Check, check.  Cruelly crushed hopes?  Check, check, check.  I can't tell you how many times I listened to this song tonight, with tears streaming down my face.  "For the chains that seem to bind you, serve only to remind you that they drop powerless behind you when you praise Him!" 

As if that wasn't convicting enough, my Mother Dearest later emailed me the name of another song that I had forgotten, which was also on that same cassette tape:

I've Never Seen the Righteous Forsaken
(Dallas Holm)

O, I know you may get weary,
And the times they may get rough.
You may not have all you want,
But you'll always have enough.
And when your darkest hour comes,
Just remember what I said:
I've never seen the righteous forsaken,
Or their seed begging for bread!

O, I know it seems so hopeless,
And you don't know what to pray.
You've done all you know to do,
And it seems there's just no way.
And when you feel you're at the end,
Just remember what I said:
I've never seen the righteous forsaken,
Or their seed begging for bread!

I've never seen God's people
With a need that He could not meet!
I know that He cares for His own,
And His promises He'll keep.

So just hold on a little longer
The answer's soon to come.
The endless waiting's almost over,
The victory's almost won.
And when again you feel His joy,
You'll remember what I said:
I've never seen the righteous forsaken,
Or their seed begging for bread!

I am not forsaken.  That's straight from the Bible, friends.  Psalm 37:25 says, "I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread." 

Sometimes it's hard to remember this truth when the ugliness of life smacks you right in the face.  But God is bigger than this life.  And He has NOT forsaken me. 

Take that, Satan.  I refuse to believe your lies.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9
"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."