Pastors, what was your “Wow” from this past Sunday or even today?
Ministry has its share of woes, wars, and worries. Sadly, we may have been blessed with several “wows” and let one woe come into the picture, and we are immediately overcome with the woe instead of the wow! We are fixated on the woe, and we forget the wow!
We need to rejoice and praise the Lord for the “Wows!”
Today’s “wow” happened during a hospital visit. Jeff has endured major trials in his life such as losing his job, his wife passing away, brain cancer, seizures, having to move out of his apartment, and now knee replacement surgery. As I walked into his room, he greeted me with a smile. After awhile, I read Psalm 61. When I finished with verse 8, So will I ever sing praises to your name, I said, “Jeff, may I encourage you from time-to-time to mute the TV and just sing praises to the Lord?”
When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed, When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings, name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.
Refrain: Count your blessings, name them one by one, Count your blessings, see what God has done! Count your blessings, name them one by one, Count your many blessings, see what God has done.
So, amid the conflict whether great or small, Do not be discouraged, God is over all; Count your many blessings, angels will attend, Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.
These lyrics written in 1897 by Johnson Oatman, Jr., came to my mind Monday morning as I sang along with the instrumental version playing through Alexa. The bold lines struck a chord in my heart.
Indeed, COVID has been one of “life’s billows” (a great wave or surge of water) that has tossed us in so many directions that we have been or are today tempted to be “discouraged, thinking all is lost.” How interesting our minds and deceitful hearts (Jeremiah 17:9) work at moments like these.
The battle is not with COVID but with our thinking.
Is all really lost? Note the phrase, “thinking all is lost.” Is that true? What does God’s Word say about COVID or any circumstance of life?
The songwriter got it right when he said, “So amid the conflict whether great or small, do not be discouraged, God is over all.” That is absolute, eternal truth!
Colossians 1:16–17 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Job 42:2 I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
Ephesians 4:4-6 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Psalm 97:9 For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods.
Deuteronomy 33:27 The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms.
So, today, do not listen to your thoughts but think His thoughts. Do not listen to yourself; preach the Truth to yourself.
Count your blessings, name them one by one, Count your blessings, see what God has done! Count your blessings, name them one by one, Count your many blessings, see what God has done.
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