Overcoming the Impossible

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“Hear my cry, O God; Attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a shelter for me, A strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings”

David knew where to go when he was in trouble. He went to pray to the One who had always saved him from past predicaments, the Lord his God. No matter where he was on the earth, the psalmist knew that he could cry out and that God would hear him. He then admits something that I think many of us don’t have the courage to do at times. David admits that he gets overwhelmed, like we get overwhelmed. That’s an admission that we can learn from. The answers to life’s difficulties are not always evident from our view point, nor are those struggles easy to overcome. The foundation that we have built our lives upon can be shifting and weak and not able to endure the stress that accompanies it. It presses down on us. Sometimes these things are like hurricane winds. We would like to think we were Atlas, able to hold the world on our shoulders, and sometimes we are. But inevitably as the weight gets heavier, our knees buckle and we need additional support to carry the load. David asks God for two things, a solid foundation and a different vantage point from where he can see more clearly the scope of the battle. How difficult it is to see clearly what to do when you are surrounded by problems with no way to see beyond them. I can resemble driving in heavy fog. This is spoken of by the writer of the book of Hebrews in the New Testament, where he writes, “ For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Why? How? Who? These are three one-word questions that come into our minds when we are being crunched by circumstances. Those are questions that can be asked, but not in the midst of the battle when flaming arrows are coming over the walls of your castle and setting everything around you on fire. This conflict is the time when you need vision, a vantage point that allows a view of the war from above. Looking down may not show us the way to victory, or even an escape route, rather it may reveal that the situation is hopeless and the forces of the enemy surround us. We are not Superman, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. When the evil villain has us trapped we can’t always find a way to defeat him. We don't need to. As the apostle Paul said, "And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." What we can do is take shelter in Jesus. We can draw near to God and His people to find protection in the midst of the struggle, trusting that the wings of grace are wide enough and strong enough to protect us from anything.