I just popped out of bed because I can't let this go. I'm afraid if I just fall asleep and think I'll get to it another time, it will be gone. And it's too important. I've been crying out in my prayers for God to give me a stronger sense of faith. I need faith. I just prayed last night, "Lord, give me faith.” And while I listened, my mind drifted and I remembered when we were kids we had to memorize Hebrews 11 (yes, the entire thing - it was hell). Hebrews 11 is a chapter on faith. Two verses stuck with me. First, Hebrews 11:2, because it was thankfully short and easy to memorize, and was kind of a running joke between us school mates. Second, Hebrews 11:1, since it was the first verse: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." I was thinking last night as I was lying there, what does that really mean? I tried to create a metaphor in my everyday life – like wood is the substance of buildings, or shingles is the substance of a roof, or hotdogs are the substance of dinner (yeah, we live on a budget). How is faith the substance of things hoped for? If I have faith, does that mean I’ll get what I hope for? Anyway, this is not directly why I dragged myself out of bed. I digress. I apologize.
When I picked Edith up from school today, some other mom said, "Tomorrow's Friday!" and this guy who works there said, "Hallelujah!" Of course Edith says, "Mom, what does 'hallejujah' mean?" And I explained, off the cuff, that "Hallelujah" means "Praise to God!" We practiced the pronunciation a few times. I sang her the song, "Praise ye the Lord! Hallelujah!" And that was that. We moved on to other things, like Dora episodes, what’s for dinner and how many bites do I have to take before I can get a snack, garage organization, and bike riding without training wheels. I didn’t really give it another thought.
After I'd put Edith to bed, I sat down to do my Bible study homework. Another task in a busy day. I kind of really didn't even have a good attitude about it, I'll be frank. I mentally counted off how many more weeks of this study we have and with relief noted we are past the halfway point. Anyway, we are going over the Psalms of Ascent. In order to keep this blog short, so I can go back to bed, I’m going to refrain from delving into a dissertation of what that means. But today’s Psalm of focus was 130. And in the alternate version of the psalm instead of calling God “Lord” like in most versions, they used the ICC version which uses the names “Yahweh,” “Adonai,” and “Yah.” Are you asleep yet? PS, Adonia is in an Amy Grant song. But that’s another digression. Focus. Focus.
Here’s where it got me. And He got me good. I’m going to quote directly from the Beth Moore study now.
Whoa….WHOA! Are you following me? Do you have Goosebumps? At least my off the cuff translation of Hallelujah was pretty accurate (insert pat on back). But God explained it to me not four hours later much MORE accurately. And all at the same time, he answered my prayers, by clearly stating, “I AM.” No way that’s a mere coincidence. No way.
Hallelujah. J
