This Blog entry will address the following lines, the next Blog will complete this song:
All my life I have been called unworthy
Named by the voice of my shame and regret
But when I hear You whisper, “Child lift up your head”
I remember oh God, You’re not done with me yet
Do you ever feel unworthy? Perhaps we have been called unworthy as the song states, but perhaps we are the ones who tell ourselves we are unworthy. I believe we have a tendency to equate failure with unworthiness. By definition, unworthy means not deserving of attention or respect, not deserving of acceptance, and not suitable. People often feel they are unworthy because of failures. Maybe we did make a mistake on our job, does that mean we are unworthy of that job? We may feel as if we did a bad job as a parent, does that mean we are unworthy of being a parent? Our last relationship may have ended in an ugly way, does that mean we are unworthy of a positive lasting relationship? More of these questions and doubts come from inside us and from Satan as he tries to discourage us. We berate ourselves over what we have done wrong, where we have failed, and therefore give Satan a stronger hold over us. He is always there speaking in our ear and telling us how unworthy we are and reminding us of all of our failures. He does whatever he can to get us to listen to him and his voice of shame and regret and to keep us from listening to the Holy Spirit Christ has given us. It doesn’t mean we have lost our faith in Christ, it means we are trying to drive our lives instead of looking to our Savior for guidance, support, and love. We are hanging our heads as we go through our woe is me life perspective. The net is we end up serving the wrong master, even though our soul belongs to Jesus based on our salvation. All of this is so easy to say and we all end up in this place at some time, but how do we get out?
Once again, the songwriters tell how Christ reaches out to us and reminds us that he is always there. He is the one who whispers in our ear and tell us to be strong and hold up our head. This may be a whisper, but it is one that comes across with power. Our Savior and Comforter tells us to lift up our head and remember what he did for us so we could have eternal happiness and reward. Note that we are called his child, we are always one of his; regardless of the situation we are facing. This loud and resonating whisper brings us to our knees as we remember that we are always a work in progress and will never achieve perfection in our physical lives. God’s plan for us takes us through this lifetime on earth, he has things he wants us to do. There are so many things in his plan that requires action from us. He is always preparing and training us for the tasks ahead. Maybe he wants us to bring a neighbor to Christ, perhaps he brings a stranger to us that he wants us to help, maybe he wants us to be a stronger light to all of those around us. He could be looking at us to work in the church, to be part of missions, to work with children, or work in a service capacity. We need to always remember we may be the only Jesus some people will ever see. The world watches us every day to see how we respond as Christians. Our actions and our words determine the strength of our light in this world. To be what God wants us to be, we need to grow our faith and witness every day. I know the above is a daunting path but think of what Christ has done for us and what lies ahead of us. Are the expectations of God greater than the reward? I don’t think so.