Repeat After Me
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Psalm 57:7-11
7. My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody! 8. Awake, my soul! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn! 9. I will give thanks to thee, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to thee among the nations. 10. For thy steadfast love is great to the heavens, thy faithfulness to the clouds. 11. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let thy glory be over all the earth!
Some days, nothing seems to go right! We get up early only to find the coffeemaker is acting up. We leave early for work, but run into a traffic jam. We finally arrive at work and find out the office manager is home sick -- and she’s the only one who knows how to collate, staple, and mail out the monthly report that should have gone out yesterday, but couldn’t because the only person who knows how to generate the report on the computer threw out his back and couldn’t come to work . . . Or, it’s your turn to drive for pre-school carpool and you have a flat tire -- and it’s raining. And then the birthday cake you ordered for the Saturday birthday party isn’t ready and the washer overflows, flooding 1/2 of your downstairs . . . Doesn’t matter the scenario -- you get it, right?!
I’ve lived out similar scenarios to both days -- and neither is easy. Those are the days when you literally want to throw in the towel. Going back to bed and starting over is not an option, though sounds pretty good! Trading in your life for that of a monk is sounding like a very viable alternative on days like those! Steadfast heart? Not so much! But those are the days when we need to have a steadfast heart! At times when the whole world seems to be plotting against us, we need to be the most steadfast! That’s when these verses become an affirmation, a mantra, a prayer - to recite over and over again. “My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast!” We don’t know what was going on the in the life of the psalmist, but he surely was anticipating that it would be challenging and that he would need to call upon his faithful God and Savior to make it through.
Even when we deal with minor annoyances and inconveniences, we can fall into a “victim mode,” can’t we? It’s all too easy to start mumbling to ourselves that the whole world is determined to make our day miserable -- someone cuts us off in traffic, someone cuts in line at the store, the copy machine jams, the cash register runs out of tape in the middle of your purchase, the phone rings off the hook, and your boss/spouse/friend is in a really bad mood! Oh, my goodness! “My Heart IS Steadfast, O God!” Help me!
Call out to God! He’ll swoop down and comfort you -- and those in your path. Ask Him to bless you and them. He will keep your steadfast heart turned to him. He loves us way too much to leave us alone in turmoil and despair. He doesn’t even like it when we’re anxious or annoyed -- because he knows our propensity to decline into anger and self-centeredness from there! So give it to God before it gets so bad you regret your actions or your words. Listen to some Christian music. Call a friend who makes you laugh. Take a walk around the block. Repeat after me: “My heart is steadfast, O God!”
I hope today your heart remains steadfast through all the inevitable “bumps and bruises” of the day. And that you give thanks to your God, who is ever steadfast and sure.
Mary
