“Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee. “
Psalm 33:18-22
The victory of the spirit, the triumph of the soul that lies in the Lord, it comes from hope, and that hope, it stems from faith taking root in our hearts, pouring forth the grace of our Heavenly Father in our lives.
How though do we find that faith, how do we dwell amidst it when the world is wrought with challenges and our souls are disquieted amidst our being, longing for peace, longing for answers, for a comfort to encompass us and a peace to envelop us through the solace that He brings? How do we find that faith, and, in faith, come to dwell in hope, when all we know, when all we see are the deep and abiding tribulations of this world as they come to overtake us and to swallow us whole? Is there an answer to the cries of our spirit that come as an answer to our souls within the great afflictions that men and women can face through the deepest trials in their lives?
These are the questions that fill us. They dwell amidst us as we look to the world and to the pain and the suffering that it can bring. We see the bondage of iniquity and the dark hold that sin can have on people. The chains of wickedness and evil clank, ready to bind the hands and the hearts of the innocent, weak or strong, poor or rich, joyous or sad, with no thought or consideration to who they are. Their heavy weight bearing down on us seeks to break us in the most significant of ways until there is nothing left but the shattered frame of the person we used to be. No home, no rest, no life, no peace, no hope, we see the persecution that comes from unrighteousness and the oppress that comes from the vile works of the corrupted nature of man throughout this world.
It holds each person captive, hostage to the gloomy estate, to the dark places that dwell amidst the hidden places that the old Adversary would strive to hold us in, believing that he can keep us out of the sights of the Lord. Here we know pain and suffering, agony and anguish, sorrow and torture as our tormented cries go forth, pouring from our lips, searching for something, for anything that will make the darkness flee from us.
It may be a moral struggle or a physical struggle, it may be a emotional challenge or a spiritual one, yet it always remains what it is, a struggle and a challenge that abides amidst this temporal existence, seeking to swallow us whole.
Yet there is no dark place amidst this corporeal plane that can remain hidden from the Lord. There is no dark place that can be left unseen by our Heavenly Father amidst this world. He is there to cut through it with his light and with His truth which is sharper than any double edged sword, that is more powerful than any weapon that Satan or those who follow in his unrighteousness and wickedness may hold in their hands.
We have the Lord, and He is the hope of our salvation, for in mercy does He pour forth His compassion in the lives of those who love and who fear Him. Though it may seem as if there is little to draw comfort in or that that there is nothing left that we may find peace in, He is there to shine forth His truth and to deliver our souls even from death. He shelters us in the gracious and the wondrous precepts of His wings, drawing us close to Him when we are in the most need, when we are feel like we are the furthest from Him and like nothing in our lives make sense anymore.
He is our shield, and our strength, our ever present help amidst the trials and the tribulation of this present age, of this present generation. Just as He walked with the saints of old, those blessed legions who gathered in His name, He walks with each of us through all the journeys of our lives, lifting us when we have fallen, carrying us when we are weary and heavy laden, taking our burdens upon Himself that we may find a measure of solace even amidst the deepest of challenges that come to encompass our lives. For our righteousness He dwells amidst liberty, bringing us to freedom… a transcending, encompassing freedom that surpasses even the knowledge and the enlightenment of this world.
After all, by His love He reconciled us all to Him. Even as we were lost to iniquity, the power of sin, death and the Devil binding us amidst the dark captivity of this world, binding us amidst the pain and the suffering that it can bring, putting upon us the yoke of slavery, He gave us a Deliverer. He offered unto us a Redeemer, a Messiah, who would bring the power of salvation through His encompassing sacrifice, letting the grave no longer have any power over us. Through that love, made manifest in Christ Jesus, captivity was made captive and all of us were ransomed.
Through Him we have become conquerors amidst the glories of the power that the Spirit of the Lord grants unto our soul in our faith. It is then by that authority that we know that we have nothing in this world that we need to fear, for the inevitable triumph goes to the Lord and to His children, even when it seems as if the world will hold the victory. It’s victories are fleeting and its power shall not have a hold on us for long, for by God, through Christ we shall come to defeat all the dark powers of this world and vanquish its unrighteousness, even as it seeks to take a hold over us by the claims that it makes over our bodies and our minds. The Lord Almighty shall confound the wicked and shall subjugate the evil, as we find His transcending love encompasses our souls.
Therefore rejoice always in His love and know His peace, deriving your strength from the power of His might, and the glories of His precepts. Through the love that He has for you, and the mercy He shows unto you, you shall find then that you dwell amidst compassion through grace by faith. There hope shall come to bear in your life in the most significant of ways, in the most wondrous of ways as you feel Him draw you closer to Him and give you the power to be stronger and of better courage than you had ever known or thought possible in your own life by your own might.
What a glorious promise and blessed assurance that truly and rightly must be seen as in our lives through all things, in all things, given unto us by the love that the Lord has for each and every one of us according to wonders of His mercy and the miracles of His love. For now we have the power to overcome and be greater than we had ever imagined, even in the times of tribulation and darkness that this temporal existence, that this corporeal existence so often tries to destroy us with in our lives. Even now, even in these troubled times, we have the abiding hope and the transcending faith of the Lord in our lives through all the days of our lives.
Lord, therefore grant this unto us all.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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