The Portion of my Inheritance

Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

We have fallen on hard times here and there is no making any sense of it. It has fallen on many hearts, in many places and we each share in the grief of the other.

And as we lament, each in our own way, this deep, passionate expression of grief; weeping, wailing, sobbing, or just the plain beating of our chest, we find solace in the only place imaginable, or sensible. We find it in the arms of our Lord.

John Piper in his sermon on Job, When the Righteous Suffer tells it like this when he quoted one of his favorite pastors and authors, George Muller as he preached his wife’s funeral after 39 years of marriage.

And this is what he said, “I miss her in numberless ways and shall miss her yet more and more.”

John Piper pauses here and adds, “ He’s not naïve, the pain is real. The pain is deep. Please let nothing that I say in these hours together in any way imply that you shouldn’t feel the full force of the pain of loss. And weep. And shave your head. And tear your clothes. And fall on the ground.”

And he continues, “I will miss her in numberless ways and shall miss her yet more and more. But as a child of God and as a servant of the Lord Jesus, I bow. I am satisfied with the will of my heavenly Father. I seek by perfect submission to His holy will, to glorify Him. I kiss continually the Hand that has thus afflicted me.”

So I look to Him, and He to me, and I feel His comforts all around me. He uses many forms, and many sources, bringing them all together like a beautiful symphony on my heart. He is true to His promises. He has never left me or forsaken me. He has become my strong tower. I have felt His ironclad arms, strong and mighty, holding me, protecting me, wrapping me up tight. Fierce and immensely powerful, yet tender and loving, gently holding me close, lovingly whispering His precious promises in my ear and on my heart.

He sings over me (Zeph. 3:17) and the words of the song fall softly on my heart, reminding me of those promises, opening the eyes of my heart to His presence, revealing His tender care of me, “like the precious oil upon the head, running down the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments.” (Ps. 133:2) And the words that soothe, that hush and quiet my throbbing heart are held in the song He gave me.

“ This is what it means to be held, how it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life and you survive. This is what it is to be loved and to know that the promise was that when everything fell, We’d be held.

(Held~by Natalie Grant)

And there is was and I knew it was from Him and I knew He was showing me and reminding me. The promise was that when everything fell, we’d be held.

I have been held, and I have been loved and I knew in that moment that He would never let me go.

And I too, along with George Muller can say, “ But as a child of God and as a servant of the Lord Jesus, I bow. I am satisfied with the will of my heavenly Father. I seek by perfect submission to His holy will, to glorify Him. I kiss continually the Hand that has thus afflicted me.”

I’m not so sure that the Lord did not give Natalie Grant that song, those words, just for me, just for this moment, because that is what it truly means to be loved, and to be held. Please read the beautiful words of this song and listen to the music. Whatever you are going through, just lay back in His arms, close your eyes and just be held.

Held

The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.

Zephaniah 3:17