We were all at Allie's house for Bible Study, talking about how the winds of life had us all a bit frazzled. About how the anxieties of life can sometimes make it hard to breathe . And it's crazy how the sympathetic ear or knowing look of a friend can minister deep peace.
Even still, how the truth of God's Word can help us gain our footing when we've scrambled, tripped and fallen all over the place.
Lily started to explain how she had started carrying around an index card that held truths from the Word in her back pocket. And when the day ushered in a lull, she'd pull out truth. You see, there's days when lies like daggers from the fires of hell are bound straight for us and without knowing truth, we're wearing a bulls eye, just begging for a wound. But pulling the Word from the back pocket of jeans can give hardship perspective and bestow the strength required for tomorrow.
So I listened to my friend Lily, and when the hardest times came, when consecutive nights were haunted by traumas' past and sleep was stolen, I woke to trust God's Word. When cold sweats jolted me to morning, I could cling to Psalm 130. Waking from a nightmare to the hope of the Lord's steadfast love and plentiful redemption got me from a heap of tears, out the front door and into the car. Truth can rework a trial.
Work-bound on the expressway, I would call upon Jesus who knew the pain and weakness of humanity, first hand. I could approach the heavenly throne where my great Sympathizer reigns and expect rich mercy and abundant grace in my time of need because Hebrews 4:14-16 is true.
In the midst of a day's work when emails piled and workloads grew, I could take refuge in Scriptures scribbled in notebooks and mull them over while I went for more coffee. You see, my life has proven 1 Peter 5:6-7 over and over again. I've bowed before God with countless frailties and deficiencies and unloaded all of it upon the One who cares with great detail and fixing power.
When despair threatened to rob me of peace altogether, I could click on Truth for Life, listen all-intent and draw hope from the Gospel spoken to me. Sometimes the reality of a trial can scream louder than the realness of God-with-us. Sometimes faith really is smaller than the cell of a mustard seed and we're desperate for more. So I heard the Spirit speak through the railing plea of a Scottish preacher who knew the Word in the gut of his soul and the reality of God-with-me returned. All because the God-breathed Word exists to teach, correct and train fumbling weak saints. All because 2 Timothy 3:16 is true.
Even though memory's horrors have haunted, Psalm 130 supplied the truest redemption. Even when anxiety has paralyzed, 1 Peter cured with the greatest care. Even when failures to trust the real order of this life have nearly overtaken, 2 Timothy rang louder in ears that chose to hear Gospel Truth.
You see, I was desperate and decided to bother with the Word and discovered that the deepest meaning in the air of this world is located on the pages of Scripture. I found that when the circumstances of life threaten to suffocate, the only real way to breathe, is to inhale Truth.
