psalm 103 – Song Dive

The next entry for my Blog is Who I Thought You Were, which was written by Olivia Lane, Jacob Stanifer, and Dustin Lolli. It was first released April 26, 2024. A link to Olivia Lane singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

Yeah, they told me that you loved me, then they told me to toe the line
They said I should be scared of doing things I know you don’t like
Saying sorry every day
Cuz I was so afraid

That’d you leave me so I left you chasing dreams I never found
But through these tears here on my knees I’m begging you to come around
Then the God I learned to fear
You showed up and made it clear that

You were there in the darkness
You were there in my pain
You saw me in the valleys and still loved me anyways
It’s so nice to finally meet you
Why was I so afraid?
I have so much left to learn
But thank God you’re not who I thought you were

I always thought you’d be so angry, instead you’re patient and you’re kind
You are for me, not against me, for way too long I believed the lie
That there was only so much grace
But now I can finally say that

You were there in the darkness
You were there in my pain
You saw me in the valleys and still loved me anyways
It’s so nice to finally to meet you
Why was I so afraid?
I have so much left to learn
But thank God you’re not

Way too holy to want the broken
Way too proud to love the meek
Cuz now I know that what I fear
Is not having you with me cuz

You were there in the darkness
You were there in my pain
You saw me in the valleys and still loved me anyways
It’s so nice to finally to meet you
Why was I so afraid?
I have so much left to learn
But thank God you’re not who I thought you were

Who is God? What is God’s personality? Is God really a being full of wrath who is always threatening the world? It seems as if we frequently see God depicted as a being looking down on our world with a look of anger on his face and carrying a spear or trident, similar to a Neptune or Zeus image. Many people strongly believe that God is a vindictive being who has no tolerance for those who do not love him. In the past, there have been some teachers and preachers who tried to scare people into accepting God and they started to fear God instead of loving him.

On the other hand, people tell us how God is filled with love and compassion. So, which personality does God have? Should we be afraid of his anger, should we try to run and hide from him, or should we open our eyes, ears, and heart to his love? With all of the dimensions in God’s perceived personality, we get the feeling that we constantly fail God and need to apologize to him continuously since we all fail in some way every day. It is almost as if we are afraid to love him and also afraid to run away from him. Once we decide to love him, our greatest fear becomes disappointing God and being abandoned, no matter how scared we may be of him. We finally realize just how much he loves us.

I realize this is a quite a gloomy perspective to start this song, but I truly believe that many people live in a fear of a powerful God instead of living in the love that only God can give. This song tells us how people turn from God out of fear instead of running to his love. Once we begin to realize that God is on our side and stands with arms open wide, we come to him on our knees. We realize that in the darkest days of our life, God was there. When we thought we were alone and lost, God was there beside us all the time. It is almost as if we find that long last friend who we had been around for most of our life; we just never realized what they meant to us. Once we realize that we were acting all of our lives in poor judgement, we can’t believe how much we were loved and cared for during every day of our life. We reach a point where we can finally say, “I am so glad I met you and so happy to understand that I could not have lived my life without you.” In the book of Romans 5:8-9, we are told that God sacrificed his only son so that we could spend eternity with him. All he asks of us is that we accept the sacrifice he made. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” Let this scripture sink in for a moment and think about whether you would be willing to pay this steep of a price for someone else.

Even though it took us so long to realize how we had misjudged God, he was never angry with us, he was never going to desert us; he always stood there beside us with his arms spread wide. He doesn’t hold our past against us, he wasn’t angry with us, he was not judging us; he was just waiting for us. This reminds me of a song “He Was There All the Time”, which was released back in 1988. You can read about this song in my Blog since it was one of my earlier posts. God started loving us before we were born and he holds no grudges against us. He loves us all, it doesn’t matter if we once hated him, ignored him, or rejected him. He even tells us in Psalm 103:12 that our past and our sins are no longer in his sight, “How far has the LORD taken our sins from us? Farther than the distance from east to west!” Even though God is perfect in every way, he accepts us just as we are. He goes from someone we fear to someone we love and can’t live without. Isn’t it amazing that we can have someone in our lives that will always love us and never fail us? We have no debt to pay to God, we only need to fall into his arms and thank him for not being the God we thought he was.

Click to Hear Olivia Lane Sing Who I Thought You Were

The next entry for my Blog is Count Your Blessings which was written by Johnson Oatman in 1897 with the music written by Edwin O. Excell. It is a staple song in most Christian hymnals. A link to the song being performed is at the bottom of the Blog.

Count Your Blessings

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

Refrain:
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God has done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings—*money cannot buy [*wealth can never buy]
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

As I write this entry in March, 2020; the world is struggling with the COVID-19 virus. We are seeing countries shut their borders, cities confine people to their homes, schools closing, travel being suspended, the stock markets in shambles, and most of us are probably wondering how this will all turn out. Some of our questions are: will I get the virus, when will it all end, how will I ultimately be impacted physically, emotionally, and financially. As I thought about a song that best seems to show an understanding of a life/world filled with troubles and what it looks like on the other side; this song, Count Your Blessings, came to mind. Even though the song was written in 1897, it is still relevant today and the troubles we are facing.

As we listen to the news and surf the internet, we only hear about what could happen as we face this global pandemic. We are definitely in a very tempestuous time filled with fear as well as selfishness. We are frustrated and discouraged as our grocery stores all have empty shelves, as we are all looking for the same life necessities. We see people coming out of the stores with more supplies than they could ever utilize, while we are hoping to get enough to survive for the next few days or a couple of weeks. So, we become extremely frustrated as we come up empty in our search and see others hoarding the things we need. As we become more frustrated, irritated, and discouraged; we start focusing on the what-ifs and fall into the glass is half-empty mindset. What we really need to focus on is how blessed we are and what will ultimately happen to us as believers. As we start to become swallowed up by the worries of life, we need to stop the worrying and start thanking God for what we do have, how he has blessed us, and what eternity looks like. Keep in mind that our life on earth is just a blip in the eternal life Jesus has given to us. Many of us share some of the same blessings, and each of us will have unique blessings. As you count your blessings, think about things such as jobs, housing, food, significant others, children, friends, possessions, health, eternal life, and these are just high-level categories for you to think about as you focus on your blessings. As the song says, I truly think you will be very surprised at what God has done!

Outside of the current time of fear from the pandemic, do you just feel worn down and beaten by the world on a daily basis? I know that each of us face our own challenges every single day in some aspect of our life. These trials ultimately become a burdensome worry that saps our strength, drags us down, and negatively impacts all of those around us. The song refers to these as our cross, the one we end up carrying every day. Jesus also carried a cross, the only difference is that the cross he carried was for each of us. Our cross is basically our challenges in life, whereas the cross of Jesus represented all of our burdens and our sins for every day of our life. He carried that cross long ago so that we could forever give our burdens to him. I realize it is easy to say to give our burdens to Jesus, but isn’t that what he told us to do and isn’t that why he died for each of us who accept him as our Lord and Savior? Consider all that he has done for us and has promised us and it will make the burdens much lighter. In Matthew 11:28 we find God’s promise, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” I do understand this is easier said than done, but we will make a lot more progress by trying than we will by worrying and trying to bear the burdens alone.

As you have thought about your challenges as well as the peace that God offers us, know that God can handle whatever confronts us, whether it is a small challenge or a completely overwhelming challenge. He ultimately overcomes our challenges by giving us the strength, hope, wisdom, and support we need; and many times, he turns those challenges into blessings. In Psalm 103:1-5, we find where David is helping us all to realize who God is and that he is always there to pick us up: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” We serve a mighty God who meets our every need and gives us more blessings than we can ever count; in fact, it would be difficult to count all of the blessings he gives us in a single day. See if you can write down every blessing, large or small, that you have received in the past 24 hours.

In closing this entry for the week, I want to ask you a question. With everything going in the world today, including the pandemic, are you living a life of fear or a life knowing that God is control?

Click to Hear Count Your Blessings