As I prepare to compose my monthly blog installment (I’m being sarcastic; I begin this way to vent my frustration at just how little I get to write these blogs of late), I just want to stop and publicly express my gratitude to God. Psalm 4:8 states, “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone make me dwell in safety.” Every day is a gift from the Lord to enjoy. This doesn’t mean that there isn’t trouble and suffering along the way, but through it all, I’m grateful for the life He has given.
The first time I heard Brandon
Lake’s song titled “Hard Fought
Hallelujah” (released back in 2024), I confess I didn’t really resonate
with it. Yes, I knew suffering, but Lake
describes the suffering with gut-wrenchingly honest lyrics, and I just didn’t
relate to his words. Here’s a sampling of
his work, for example:
“There’s days when a praise
comes out easy, and days when it takes all the strength I’ve got. I’ll bring my hard-fought heartfelt,
been-through-hell, hallelujah. I’ll
bring my storm-tossed, torn-sail, story to tell hallelujah. God, you’ve been patient. God, you’ve been gracious whatever I’m
feeling or facing. So I’ll bring my
hard-fought heartfelt, it-is-well, hallelujah.”
I might not have resonated
with this song initially, but I can tell you that this is one of my anthems
now. As I look back over these past
months, one episode of suffering after another has occurred. Recently I endured another chapter of
suffering; I’ll never forget just how deeply intense it was – and incidentally,
it’s too fresh to get into now. Nevertheless,
I do feel as if I can say to the Lord, “I’ll bring my hard-fought heartfelt,
been-through-hell hallelujah. I’ll bring
my storm-tossed, torn-sail, story to tell hallelujah.”
One of the verses that I’ve
held on to in the midst of all this is the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 27. Psalm 27:13, in the NKJV, reads, “I would have
lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in
the land of living.” Amen to that! I have seen darkness, uncertainty, and
pain, but praise the Lord, I have also seen the goodness of the Lord in the
land of the living again. However, it
doesn’t always come right away, and that’s why it’s interesting to note that
the next verse, Psalm 27:14, states, “Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and
He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I
say, on the Lord.”
Another stanza of the Brandon
Lake song I brought up earlier goes as follows: “I’ve wrested with the
darkness, but I’m trying to reach for the light. Yeah, the struggle keeps me honest and it breaks
down the walls of my pride; ‘cause faith isn’t proven like gold ‘til it’s been through
the fire. Yeah, yeah. My head, heart, and hands are feeling heavy,
and that’s when I lift them a little higher.”
God bless,
Kevin
