"Rise and Stand Upright!" Updated and Recycled to Give You HOPE

This post was originally written on 4/23/2016, and I see that many of my friends had some excellent supportive comments at the end.  I was looking for something this morning to share about the word HOPE, and even though that word is not necessarily used or highlighted in this post, it is certainly implied and a very big part of what it means to "Rise and Stand Upright!"  Our HOPE is in the Lord, and because of Christ, we as believers have every reason to RISE and STAND UPRIGHT in the face of sorrow, disappointment, grief and fear.  It is my HOPE that you will find encouragement and HOPE as you read this post today.  It encouraged me to re-read it after almost a year.  God's Word is ever-active, always appropriate, and  easily recycled to meet whatever situation you may be facing today and in the future.

1.  "May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble;

May the name of the God of Jacob defend you;

2.  May He send you help from the sanctuary..."  Psalm 20:1-2

Original Post 4/23/16~

This evening I was skimming through my Bible, looking at different verses here and there that I had highlighted in some way, or circled, bracketed, drew arrows pointing to, and in some cases, wrote a date in the margin.

I noticed that particularly in the book of Psalms, almost every page or Psalm had some kind of personal markings scattered throughout.  Probably because the Psalms are my favorite go-to verses in the whole Bible.  I've often thought they were written especially with me in mind...and perhaps they were. (See note card peeping above the Bible, which says, "Because you're so special...")

Anyway, tonight's "special" Psalm that I have zeroed in on is Psalm 20. There is an arrow pointing to it with the date 7/24/96 written in the margin.  Now, where were YOU on the date 7/24/96? Can you remember? Was it in any way significant? If so, please fill me in.  I do not quite recall why this particular Psalm was so important to me on this specific date in my life...(makes me wish that I had kept a journal during that time...but for various reasons I did not...probably because of the busy-ness or stressfulness of that time period,  I just wasn't able or in the mood to write it down.  However, I dated these verses in my Bible because they were speaking to my heart for some reason...and so perhaps the ancient words written in God's Word are journal enough.  God's Word, or in this case, God's inspired Word written down for us in Psalm 20 by the Psalmist David, was subtitled "A plea for help from the sanctuary".  

Let me quote a few of the verses here for you...the ones that I believe were speaking directly to me at that particular time in my life:

1.  "May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble;

May the name of the God of Jacob defend you;

2.  May He send you help from the sanctuary,

and strengthen you out of Zion;

3.  May He remember all your offerings,

and accept your burnt sacrifice.

4.  May He grant you according to your heart's desire,

and fulfill all your purpose.

5.  We will rejoice in your salvation,

and in the name of our God we will set up our banners!

May the Lord fulfill all your petitions." 

Sifting back through the cobwebs and corners of my mind to that time period almost 20 years ago, I can vaguely remember that we were in a time of transition. Without going into specifics, I know that it was a time of great distress and unrest in our hearts and lives. We had left the pastoral ministry due to issues beyond our ability to "fix" on our own.  Only God could help us get back to where we needed to be in our lives.  Our hearts were broken, our spirits were sorely troubled and needed supernatural healing from on high.  Our greatest desire was to be healed and restored to what we believed was our purpose in life...but it was going to take Divine "help from the sanctuary"...and strength that could only come from "Zion"...the city of God.  

As I read through these verses at that time, I know when I came to verse 6 that I claimed it for our situation:

"Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed;

He will answer him from His holy heaven

with the saving strength of His right hand."

I wish I could say that the answers came immediately and that we were rescued spontaneously from our "day of trouble".  But it was not that simple. Some parts of our lives...our "purpose", was not fulfilled completely for some time. There were still many days...and even years of waiting and wondering when God would intervene on our behalf.  Now, don't get me wrong...God truly heard my plea for help...and He did send ministering angels from the sanctuary to give us strength and guide us through the maze of uncertainty in the days ahead.  But the depth of the wounds that were still "bleeding" took time to heal and oftentimes the scabs would form and would somehow get scratched off and have to start all over again in the healing process. 

Today I can say as I look back on that time that God was surely with us. He never left us helpless.  But we had to learn to trust Him all over again.

Verse 7-8 says 

"Some trust in chariots, and some in horses;

But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.

 They have bowed down and fallen;

But we have risen and stand upright!"

Yes, we had to learn to keep our eyes on the Lord our God and not in the strength of men.  Those who trust in men or principalities or chariots or horses, or jobs or positions..."They have bowed down and fallen"....but when we learned to keep our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), 

"We have risen and stand upright!"

Praise God!

I hope this will be an encouragement to you today.  When you are going through various trials and difficulties in life, whether they be self-inflicted, or brought on by the cares of this world...put your trust in "Name of the Lord our God", and when all the others around us may have bowed down and fallen, you will rise and stand upright!