The eternal God is a dwelling place, And underneath are the everlasting arms (Deuteronomy 33:27a)
Some of my followers may have noticed a couple of Facebook posts recently concerning the pandemic and our 'stay at home orders'. I later deleted them after realizing they may have come across too judgmental. I believe my calling is to minister to those that have a relationship with Christ. We all have a command to reach the lost with the Gospel of Christ. I am praying I will impact the unsaved, with my attempts to encourage fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. I pray these devotional blogs will help us all to grow stronger and closer to Christ so that we will all be bolder in sharing Christ's love with others, especially those that don't know him. What concerns me is seeing or sensing the fear among my spiritual family. Those close and those I haven't met personally. The motivation for the deleted posts was to urge us all to keep our eyes on God, rather than Covid-19 and governmental restrictions. Let us not forget his greatest commandment to love others. My concern is we are becoming too afraid to be around each other and forgetting to love each other, while we practice safe social distancing. One night while one of our dogs was leaning on me, the hymn 'Leaning on Jesus' came to mind. We rescued Nick from a local shelter after his owner died. He loves to lean on us. My husband says it shows trust. My heart fills with love and joy, knowing how much our new addition to the family trusts me. To me, trust equals love and acceptance, so the more people trust me, the more I know they love me. I wonder if this is the same for our Nick. He leans on us, knowing we are there. He has no doubt he'll fall because of our presence. I then think of Jesus and believe this too is how he feels when we lean on him. When we trust Jesus to be there to catch us when we fall or when we are fearful, it shows him how much we love him. My favorite verse of the hymn, Leaning on Jesus, is the last one. "What do we have to dread, and what do we have to fear when we are safe in our savior's loving arms?" Leaning on Jesus What a fellowship, what a joy divine, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms! What a blessedness, what a peace is mine, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms!
Leaning, leaning,
Safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning,
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.
O how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way,
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms!
O how bright the path grows from day to day,
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms!
What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms!
I have peace complete with my Lord so near,
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms!
"Our experience of leaning upon our Beloved Christ, on some days emphasize His hands of security, yet on other days, His shoulders of strength, or His bosom of love and comfort. We lean upon His lovely Person as the only One who is dependable, in whom all the fullness dwells." (unknown)
The below song is not the hymn; however, this one captured my heart, and I want to share it as part of this devotional blog.