On The Run

Mar 19, 2021

"...Don't be dejected and sad, for the Joy of the LORD is your strength!"

- Prophet Nehemiah, Nehemiah 8:10

"In the midst of Winter, I finally discovered within me an Invincible Summer."

- Albert Camus

Years ago, when Sarah was just a baby, we were flying back to our hometown in Iowa. She was sound asleep on my chest when the guy seated on the aisle seat beside me looked over, smiled, and said, "Oh man, what I'd give to have just one sweet little baby girl like that." I said, "Ohhh, you don't have any kids?" "No," he replied, "I have five… what I'd give to have just one."

So many of us think that we have to have it all… that we have to wait until everything is completed… the deal is done… the project is complete… the healing has come… the battle is won… the kids are gone… the bills are paid… before we can have full joy! But what the prophet Nehemiah calls us to is joy on the run! Way before the temple was completed, listen to what the Book of Ezra says…

"When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the LORD… And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD; because He is Good, and His mercy endures forever toward His people. And the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid."

- Ezra 3:10-11

Why worship God before the "thing" is completed? I mean, not only did it not look like much, but so much can still go wrong, right? The times are unstable and uncertain and anything could happen to derail the completed project. Why worship God when…

...you're still in pain?

...when the problem isn't fixed?

...when the illness isn't healed?

...when the marriage isn't working?

...when the finances aren't coming?

...when the pressure isn't lifting?

...when the job isn't improving?

...when the anger isn't diminishing?

Why worship on the run?

Because your God is able to finish what He starts! He's not going to abandon you now. God doesn't do that!

If you can learn to praise and worship Jesus before you've seen "the walls go up"... before you've received the completed answer to your most desperate prayer… you will be expressing your faith in a God who is able to see you through to the end.The deal is this… "The Joy of the LORD" is your strength! You lose your joy, you lose your strength. You lose your strength, you lose the battle.

When I was going through radiation for cancer, my son put together a series of worship songs for me to listen to on my iPod (Ha! what an antique), and he titled it "Songs to get Dad Through." So, before every radiation treatment, I would listen to these songs and show up at the radiation center just pumped up. And one time, another patient who was so (understandably) depressed asked me, "Man, why are you so happy?" And I told him, "Well, I wouldn't call it 'happy'... but I do have this Joy that comes from listening to some songs about my Savior Jesus, who's got a really good ending to all of this for me… so… I'm gonna keep dancin!" And I invited him to listen to the song, "Bring the Rain," by Mercy Me…

So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace

Bring the chance to be free

Bring me anything that brings You glory

And I know there'll be days

When this life brings me pain

But if that's what it takes to praise You

Jesus, bring the Rain