My God, My Strength

Holy Tuesday April 7, 2020

My God, My Strength

During this time, we are all feeling overwhelmed.

What do you and I lean on when we are feeling this way?

Our faith.

Our belief in God our Father,

Jesus Christ, our Savior,

and the Holy Spirit which inspires us.

Faith according to Hebrews 11 is defined as

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for,

the conviction of things not seen.

Our strength in difficult times is a gift given to us from God.

The scripture I want to look at today is Isaiah 49:1-7.

49 Listen to me, O coastlands,
    pay attention, you peoples from far away!
The Lord called me before I was born,
    while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.² He made my mouth like a sharp sword,
    in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow,
    in his quiver he hid me away.³ And he said to me, “You are my servant,
    Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”⁴ But I said, “I have labored in vain,
    I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my cause is with the Lord,
    and my reward with my God.”

⁵ And now the Lord says,
    who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
    and that Israel might be gathered to him,
for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,
    and my God has become my strength—⁶ he says,
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
    to raise up the tribes of Jacob
    and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
    that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

⁷ Thus says the Lord,
    the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,
    the slave of rulers,
“Kings shall see and stand up,
    princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

Isaiah says God’s light is a light to all nations

so that salvation may reach to the end of the earth.

God’s light, God’s love, God’s strength is meant for all.

You and I are called to spread God’s love and share the Gospel.

Our faith reaches beyond the doors and walls of a church,

our worship space is wherever God is -everywhere!

Lean on God’s strength as you and I encounter these long days;

our faith will get us through this.

Share your faith, reach out to others even in the midst of social distancing.

A phone call, an email, an encouraging word, listening, praying…

you and I have each other and have our faith.

Let us lean on God and each other.

And in that spirit, I would like to share lyrics to a song that speaks to this.

Music has a special way of speaking to us, hymns are beautiful words of praise.

Secular music can also touch our souls

so here are the lyrics of Bill Withers’ song Lean on Me.

Sometimes in our lives we all have pain

We all have sorrow

But if we are wise

We know that there's always tomorrow

Lean on me, when you're not strong

And I'll be your friend

I'll help you carry on

For it won't be long

'Til I'm gonna need

Somebody to lean on

Please swallow your pride

If I have things you need to borrow

For no one can fill those of your needs

That you won't let show

You just call on me brother, when you need a hand

We all need somebody to lean on

I just might have a problem that you'll understand

We all need somebody to lean on

Lean on me, when you're not strong

And I'll be your friend

I'll help you carry on

For it won't be long

'Til I'm gonna need

Somebody to lean on

You just call on me brother, when you need a hand

We all need somebody to lean on

I just might have a problem that you'll understand

We all need somebody to lean on

If there is a load you have to bear

That you can't carry

I'm right up the road

I'll share your load

If you just call me (call me)

If you need a friend (call me) call me uh huh(call me) if you need a friend (call me)

If you ever need a friend (call me)

Call me (call me) call me (call me) call me

(Call me) call me (call me) if you need a friend

(Call me) call me (call me) call me (call me) call me (call me) call me (call me)¹

Amen.

Rural Church painted 3/7/20

1 Lean on Me by Bill Withers