G: Psalm 121 (ESV)

Psalm 121

English Standard Version (ESV)

My Help Comes from the Lord

A Song of Ascents.

121 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
    From where does my help come?
² My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot be moved;
    he who keeps you will not slumber.
⁴ Behold, he who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord is your keeper;
    the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
⁶ The sun shall not strike you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord will keep you from all evil;
    he will keep your life.
⁸ The Lord will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time forth and forevermore.

 I have a migraine problem. When I had long hair, I had a migraine just about every day. (And yes, I know the difference between a "normal" headache and a migraine.) Now, with short hair, I have them about twice every week. Often, some tylenol or advil will help. Sometimes though, like today, it doesn't.

I used to just lay in bed in the cold and dark bemoaning the fact that my head hurt so badly. The migraines have gotten so severe that they make one eye tear up and keep me in bed for a day or two. I used to be completely okay with complaining about them. And I still whine about them when they hurt a whole lot. I don't feel like there's anything wrong with expressing my displeasure for them.

But something I've learned to do recently, before turning to coffee or excedrin (my last ditch efforts to get rid of the pain), is to thank God. Sound silly? I don't think it is at all. Especially when I flipped open my Bible to do my devotions this morning and it randomly flipped open to Psalm 121, right when I was telling God I was going to push past the migraine enough to talk to him. And the first thing He says to me isn't "stop complaining," it's "I am your Help."

And for me that's huge. I'm such a comfort seeker when I'm sick or in pain--always asking my family and boyfriend for hugs, attention, and love. Is that bad? I don't think so. But it's really big to me when GOD steps in and says "Here. Let me take care of you." I'm not trying to say He doesn't take care of me other times. But it's those times where I've learned to praise Him in spite of the pain that resonate most deeply within me because God wants to help me. He wants to help you. He wants to help all of his children! He's proven that time and time again over the course of history. But He doesn't help where we don't let him. When the Israelites turned their noses up at God and said "We don't need you, we need Baal and the Asherah," God got angry and said "Fine, do it your way." And the Israelites suffered. Yes, God wants all people to know and love and worship and follow Him. But He doesn't force them to. He doesn't force me to keep him as my top priority, number one in my life. But when I do, He blesses me. And I get that not just from experience, but from Isaiah:

Isaiah 40:30-31

English Standard Version (ESV)

³⁰ Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;
³¹ but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

By telling God I want Him to be first in my life, that I can't do it on my own and I don't want to, I allow room in my life for Him to work. Psalm 121 says he will never fall asleep on us (like Elijah mocked the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18:27. Curious? That chapter is worth the read.) Psalm 121 says God will keep us, won't "let your foot be moved," will keep "you from all evil," and will "keep your going out and your coming in."

Basically, God will take care of you.

And in this passage this morning, God told me that even though my head felt like it was trying to crack open, He was taking care of me. And after reading that and praying (and some coffee,) my head stopped hurting. Some people would say it was just the caffeine that helped. I say it was God. So when the pain comes, I choose to say "Thank you God for my migraine, because it is in this pain that I remember to turn to You for help." And He never fails to answer. Whether it is to provide healing, or to put an invisible hand on my heart to comfort me, or to wrap me in a giant, tender hug. Would I like it to be healing every time? Of course. But I'm not picky, because God doesn't have to help me.

But He chooses to.

In Christ and Love,

Gabrielle