O God, Our Eyes Are on You

April 25, 2020

O God, Our Eyes Are on You

God is our refuge and strength,

     a very present help in trouble.

“Be still, and know that I am God!

Psalm 46:1, 10 (NRSV)

Today marks the end of the sixth week we have been home on “house-arrest” in North Carolina. Our Governor has extended his stay-home order for two additional weeks. I heard yesterday the social-distancing recommendation may extend through the summer and into the fall of this year. It appears it will be a long, long time before our society returns to anything like the normal I experienced the last time I was in church, March 8^th.

Knowing God as our refuge and strength, a very present help in this time of trouble, has been an interesting experience for me. I have been introduced to online video conferences through ZOOM, a medium I had never heard of before. Now I am doing four or five conferences a week. I meet with colleagues in my HOA for committee work, family and neighbors for socializing, and most importantly I am teaching a Sunday School class each week.

During the last few months, a line from a song keeps popping up in my mind: “I don't know what the future holds, I know who holds the future.” I need to remember that because there are unsettling times ahead for me, and not just the coronavirus’ changes in society. There are significant challenges facing the UMC and changes that will take me out of my comfort zone are looming on the horizon. Knowing God in this present stillness has been a great comfort to me. I go to verse 10 of Psalm 46 several times each day.

Each time I read Psalm 46, I remember the psalmist was inspired to write this psalm by the story in 2 Chronicles 20: 1-30. Verse 12 in that story is a powerful reminder of how I want to respond to every crisis in my life: “O our God . . . For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” (NRSV)

My Takeaway: Even so,

The Lord of hosts is with us;

    the God of Jacob is our refuge. Sē’lah

This is verse 7 of Psalm 46, and is repeated at the end of the Psalm as verse 11.

Sē’lah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the complimentary closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things. I think it is clear the psalmist is using the word the same way here in Psalm 46 -- pause and think about what this means – the Lord of hosts is with us!

As we move forward into an unknown future where most everything will be different than it was before the coronavirus, let us not forget that the Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2020 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.