He Is Close Beside Us

Psalm 23:3-5(NLT)
“3 He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. 4 Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. 5 You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.”

Ask anyone that loves roller coaster rides about their favorite part, and they’ll probably tell you that it’s not actually all about the ride. It’s being at the very top cap before it makes that humongous descend. The combination of anticipation, exhilaration, and fear hit’s the high note in your register, and nothing seems to compare to that moment, not even the swirls and loops afterwards. Although roller coaster rides may not be your thing, there’s always an experience or encounter in our lives that connects us with the height of thrilling emotions. Whether we realize it or not, we all will try to duplicate it repeatedly.  

We can be extremely skillful and savvy in other walks of life, but when it comes to emotional intelligence, we’re not as mature as we’d like. Again, most of us go for the thrill. Even though it’s the low hanging fruit, the desire to feel good tricks us. We pursue the experience that we believe will bring us to that ‘feel good’ combination, and we often do this without the wisdom of mature discernment. In other words, we jump in quickly into relationships without understanding what we’re working with. The man catches our eye, because he’s oozing with the things that fill us anticipation and exhilaration, so much so that we fail to recognize that fear is his dominant energy. It’s run amok in his soul, but you didn’t know it. You thought he’d take you to the high note in your register because he looked the part, but he’s not capable. The disappointment is devastating, to say the least.

People may be telling you to get off that roller coaster of emotion and violence, but for you it’s not that simple. In your mind, the intensity translates to passionate love. It has captured and trapped you in ways you could never have imagined, and it’s making you contort and shift like an inflatable toy. You’ve tried repeatedly to make yourself want to get out of it, but something deep keeps you planted in chaos. It’s possible that wrong wiring has taken root. The switch that separates reality from fantasy may be faulty, and it’s causing a disconnect between good judgment and your desires.

These are things that happen when Jesus Christ isn’t the Head of our lives and the Holy Spirit isn’t allowed to assume the position of Guide. Life truly is the grand occasion of your existence, and because deep down all of us realize this, we’re always trying to grasp more of it. We latch on to people, places, and things because we assume that they will give us more life, but this will always prove to be a futile attempt. These are worldly pursuits and they will not fill our cups. The psalmist, King David, makes it clear in Psalm 23:3 that God is the One that renews our strength. He is the One that guides us along the right path. We are spiritual beings—God’s spiritual children, and He is the only One that can fill our cups.

God is our Creator, and He created the human soul to be nurtured by His Spirit. This way, the soul is continually feasting on the richness of His goodness. Instead of following God’s Will for our lives, many of us have taught ourselves to feast on other human beings and this, more than any other thing, ravages our hearts and sabotages our lives repeatedly. It’s how our wires get crossed and mangled. The wrong diet causes us to become fragmented. We neglect the wisdom to put square pegs into square holes, so we try to force them into round ones. That’s never a workable strategy.

James 4:7(ESV) tells us, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” This is God’s directive. We must submit ourselves to Him because He is our Rescue and Refuge, and He is close beside us. Understand that proximity is a crucial element to warfare, and domestic violence and abuse is a spiritual war waged against individuals by the devil. God commands us in Ephesians 6:11(ESV), “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” Our Heavenly Father has not left us defenseless. He’s given us fail-proof weaponry, and one of the most important truths that He wants us to know is that we’re not alone in this battle. We have Him, the all-powerful, all-knowing, Almighty God that is full of mercy and grace.

1John 5:4(ESV) says, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” It’s true that our darkest valley can be found in the unpredictability of life, but God is with us in that valley. Heavenly Father wants us to know that He will always be with us, and it is faith in His strength and power that gives us the victory continually. He will never leave us nor forsake us. When we need comfort, He’s there. When we need protection, He’s right there beside us to fight our battles. We’ve got so much going on internally that we couldn’t possibly figure it all out, but God knows exactly what we need. Let the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart. Let him take complete control as you learn more about him, follow where he leads, and stay grounded in his love, strength, and power.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“He Is Close Beside Us”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.