CYPRESSWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST
September 5, 2004
LIFT UP IN PRAYER:
Our congregation Our nation, leaders, and military
Our college students Various friends, relatives and co-workers
David and Leon in the Navy Jolene will have knee surgery Thursday
Anita is recovering from having two stints put in last week
LABOR DAY TOMORROW!
RELAX AND ENJOY!
BIRTHDAYS FOR SEPTEMBER:
Ruby Agualar (4th) Sherry Everett (5th) Don Henderson (6th) Courtney Stehlik (6th)
YOU RAISE ME UP
“But God…made us alive together with Christ…and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-6).
You Raise Me Up is the title of a new song sung by two different people. I have heard it on a secular station sung by Josh Groban and on a Christian station sung by the group “Selah.” When I first heard it I thought about the above text. Since then I have thought about other texts as well. First the words.
“When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary
When troubles come and my heart burdened be
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence
Until you come and sit awhile with me.
There is no life - no life without its hunger
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly
But when you come and I am filled with wonder
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up…to more than I can be.
This could be considered a lament like many found in the Psalms. “When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary” is similar to many of the laments. “How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?” (Psalm 13:2). “My tears have been my food day and night…” (42:3). We are often burdened by troubles, everything from sickness to loss, from loneliness to hopelessness. Then there is that silence, that sitting in God’s waiting room. We all dislike waiting rooms; they are not made for patient people though patients sit in them. Often we wait for God and wonder how long it will be before He answers. In our waiting loneliness takes hold and we wonder. We struggle with faith, with hope, with expectation, and with life. But then God answers: “Until you come and sit awhile with me.” “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Isn’t that what we need to hear? In Lamentations, Jeremiah speaks of our sins that have become a yoke around our necks that weigh us down and sap us of our strength. Sometimes we are like the seed that is sown among the thorns which choke us because of the cares and concerns of life. We need rest. We need God to come and sit with us for awhile. We need to know that having been raised up with Christ there is hope.
The second verse continues this thought. It speaks of restless hearts seeking something. In a sense God has done this so that we would seek Him (see Acts 17:24-28). It is when we behold the wonders of God that our restlessness finds its satisfaction. How do we see these wonders of God? We read the scriptures that remind us of what God has done. We look at His creation and the power and wonder found in it. Just look at the power and beauty of storms and lightning (Jeremiah 10:12-13). Look at the wonders of space. God did all that! Then look at the changed lives of people who now live radical lives in Jesus. We just don’t look where we should be looking. Paul said this: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:1-2). Radical living begins by looking up. It results in ignoring what the world can do to us for “they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death” (Revelation 12:11, NRSV). What a life!
So what does God do? The chorus answers that. “You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains. You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas.” This is what God can do. Remember Peter? He wanted to walk on the water with Jesus and did. But he saw the wind and began to sink. Jesus “raised him up.” And what about faith that can move mountains? After speaking of those who grow tired and weary, God will give strength to the weak. “But those who hope (or wait on) in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31). “I am strong when I am on your shoulders.” Remember the famous poem of the footprints in the sand. First there are two and then one and then two. The author asks what happened and God replied that He had carried him when it was needed. Isn’t that what God does? He bears or carries us along.
“You raise me up…to more than I can be.” Isn’t that what God wants? Isn’t it to grow in Christ, to be transformed into His likeness (see Romans 12:1-2)? Paul prayed that a thorn in his flesh be removed but God told him that it was there to keep him humble and therefore trusting in God and not himself. We can be more in Christ when we humbly rely on God and not ourselves. We are to seek first His kingdom, His rule in our lives and then God will take care of the rest (see Matthew 6:24-34).
I said this song was a lament. Like the laments of the Psalms, they move from complaint and struggle to trust in God. This song does that. We struggle in life and complain to God because it appears He isn’t doing anything but then we move toward Him in trust knowing that He will raise us up.
George B. Mearns