Are there any other movie buffs out there who love ‘The Preacher’s Wife’ featuring Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston? I never miss it on Christmas, and that soundtrack is just legendary
I’m pretty sure I had the CD, and wore it out! One of the songs on the album called ‘Somebody Bigger Than You and I’ is one of my faves. It was such a great pop/dance track for it’s time, and the lyrics are loosely based on Psalm 61. A Whitney Houston song based on scripture—it doesn’t get much better than that!
Lately, I have this strong sense of the necessity of incorporating as much scripture into my messages as I can. Sure, you can make a point with a story in order to highlight a spiritual truth. Jesus did that, but at the end of the day, the power is in the Word. The reason that the Word, Jesus, was made flesh and came to dwell among us was to transform us.
Without Him, the Word, there is no transformation.
As we step into the fall season, I have another strong sense. This sense is that we are going to need the Word of God close by, ready and available, to keep us stable and steady in the days ahead. And I say close by as in readily at hand, in our thoughts, and rolling in our heart. This means we have been reading it, hearing it, and saying it out loud—all of the sense-driven ways of learning that get something inside of you.
If you read this blog or listen to my podcast, you know that one of my favorite people in the Bible is David. David experienced so many intense shifts and dire circumstances in his life, both personally and culturally, and he wrote about it prolifically in the book of Psalms. These scriptures seem specifically paramount for us right now.
“From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” (Psalm 61:2)
‘The end of the earth’ is actually an idiom from that time. David was saying, “When I am on the brink, at the end of my rope… when I am in unprecedented circumstances, unknown territory, and I don’t understand what is happening around me, I will cry out to you, Lord.”
This is actually describing more of what we would define today as a ‘call’ rather than a traditional cry from pain. Cry can mean a cry of grief, but it can also mean a cry of joy or simply a calling out for someone. David is painting a picture that my current strong sense tells me many of us have felt in the past three years (2020-2023).
When your heart is overwhelmed, which means it’s like a cloak of darkness is trying to come over you, He writes, “Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I.”
In an ultra-independent, information-driven, self-actualizing culture, the truth that there is One that is higher than you and I and that He lives in us is the ultimate lifeline. David is saying, “Lead me to my refuge, my fortress, my safe place. My never-changing, bigger than me, rock of my life!”
So in the days ahead, I want to encourage you to get Jesus, the Word, close by you; live in awareness that you are in Him and He is in you. Get the Word of God in front of your eyes, in your ears, and get it down in your heart—every day. Get your feet planted on the rock of ages so that whatever new, unprecedented circumstances and situations arise, you will be fixed, you will not be shaken, and your heart will be free.