From the Pastor's Pen

Dear friends,

The Bridge band did a song for worship a couple of weeks ago that was new to me.  The song is King of Glory (You Restore My Soul) by All Sons & Daughters.  The music caught my attention first, but when I listened carefully to the lyrics, I was sold.  I set the song to playing on my phone and replayed it periodically all day long.  The first verse, in particular, speaks to me.

I know a place where I can find You

Here in the valley of the shadows

Give me eyes to see

Where You’re leading me

It is a fascinating thought that the place we can find God is in the valley of the shadows and yet, this is exactly where I have found God so many times in my life.  It seems that when life is going along swimmingly, I am too busy with all of the details and too wrapped up in the “happy” to give much thought to God.  It’s when life is hard that I turn to God again and again.  We’ve been studying the lives of the great patriarchs and matriarchs of the  faith in the book of Genesis in both of my weekly Bible studies.  Consistently the great people of the faith turned to God for help when they were in trouble and prayed with great passion.

I imagine God has been getting a lot of attention in 2020.  I know I feel like we are living in the valley of the shadow.  Certainly there are moments of light and happiness, but I can’t help feeling there is a shadow following me around.  I am frustrated by restrictions and worn out with worrying about what’s safe and what might not be safe.  So maybe it’s just best to accept our reality.  We are living in the valley of the shadows, and I for one, am looking for where God is leading me and leading us.

Our hope, however, is in the Lord.  We look to the Lord to restore our sense of well being and peace while we are living in the valley of the shadows.  This is not the same as living in denial and suggesting everything is just fine.  It is to accept the valley of the shadows and to know that we can and often do meet God in such places and that there is hope.  Darkness will give way to light.  Here’s the chorus from the song, King of Glory:

You restore my soul

I’m Yours alone

Oh King of glory

When dark gives way to light

Your hope will rise

Oh King of glory

Lean into the shadows today and look for the light of God leading us.  We may not know where we are going yet or how we get out of this valley, but I trust the one who leads us.

Here’s the link for the song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K556S6jGJQ

Peace,

Pr. Sally