Faith in a Time of Pandemic – Our Help is in God’s Name

CVIX
Our help is in the name of God!
(7/15)

If it had not been the Lord who was on our side…Our help is in the name of God, who made heaven and earth (Psalm 124: 1,8)

The words we use are important. We know that language can affirm or demoralize us. A child who is told she lacks intelligence or beauty can come to believe it. Using sexist and racist language can destroy a person’s spirit. In contrast, words of affirmation, grounded in the deeper realities of life, can change us forever. Do you remember when someone affirmed your gifts? Told you that you were special? Do you remember the joy at hearing a familiar voice call your name? Do you remember the power of Jesse Jackson saying to inner city youths, “You are somebody?”

One of my spiritual mentors Howard Thurman describes his felling when the president of Morehouse College John Hope referred to students as “ young gentlemen.”

“He always addressed us as “young gentlemen.” What this term of respect meant to our faltering egos can only be understood against the backdrop of the South of the 1920’s. We were black men in Atlanta during a period in which Georgia was infamous for its racial brutality. Lynchings, burning, unspeakable cruelties were the fundamentals of existence for black people. Our physical lives were of little value.
Any encounter with a white person was inherently dangerous and frequently fatal. Those of us who managed to remain physically whole found our lives defined in less than human terms.”

Call on the name of God. Call on Jesus when you are in trouble. This isn’t magic, and it won’t magically solve all your problems. It will however give you a sense that you are not alone, that God is with you, and that whatever the problem, God will find a way where there is no way. You may still be anxious, but even then you can give your anxieties to Jesus, and he will carry them with you.

Take a moment to listen to “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ name – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjq4wRUFlRU
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Jesus, help me trust you in my living. Help me trust you in this time of crises. Let me know that together we can face any challenge. Amen.