surely

Once again, I'm blogging due to peer pressure... ah hmm... I mean "inspiration." ;)

But, truthfully this one has been milling around for a while now, and perks up as relevant often. .

Starting with the verse:

Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion.
It cannot be shaken; it remains forever.
Psalm 126:1

"The Hebrew word for "trust" in verse 1 is "batach," defined as being "confident, secure, sure."

Insecurity, lack of "batach," has caused me some serious misery.

B. Moore agrees,

"Insecurity has remained one of my most consistent challenges, and ...I'm convinced its epidemic in our deceived culture... You would be surprised to know how many people who seem to have it all together are chronically insecure... I don't think victory over insecurity will ever come to me automatically. God and I dialogue about it consistently, and He alone has proved strong enough to quell my insecurity..."

I'll pause there.

My precious friend, Kate, was married on Saturday. In the days and months prior to her tender nuptials, the "faithful four" and more gathered together for showers and some much needed hangout time. (clarity: "faithful four" was a self-given title to four friends who attended EVERY church event offered, as wee ones up to seniors in high school, due to choice and/or lack there of.) Somewhere during our continuous catching-up chatter, I or someone remarked, "I like us... I like the 'grown-up' version of us." We went on to discuss what we felt our biggie flaw(s) was during our childhood/teenage years and what we felt was the major root of our issue(s). Bottom-line, well you guessed it - insecurity. Each manifested that lack of security in different self-destructive behaviors, some less-severe and/or consequential than others, but painful conditions nonetheless. So why different?? What was the swinging factor? Each of these childhood treasures, had childhood faith, which the Lord in His mercy transformed into adult faith-walking belief. And in that belief, we met security, and our moldy selves, began to smell like some fragrant fruit. I still stink from time to time... to time to time to time... :), but praise the Lord, I'm not going to be ashamed to say that there is victory in my life, and in the lives of my friends.

B. Moore adds on to that,

"We can grow secure in the favor God has shown us, but God's favor and His person are not synonymous. ...Mountain-like security only comes from trusting God, not what He's done for us or given us, however glorious and eternal those things may be."

While fruitful, our lives have been far from "peachy." We've lost precious ones, dealt with depression, eating disorders & weight issues, financial struggle, divorce, loneliness, anxiety, promiscuity, doubt, jealousy, manipulation, low self-worth, and more... With the exception of divorce, I'm not sure any of these can be assigned to just one of us. In less than ten years, the Lord has woven with His sovereignty a weighty plan, in spite of our self-breeding flaws and then drew us to security...

ahhh it's like... well, like having been stuck at the bottom of a pool, perhaps looking for something as futile, as - i dunno - a tiny earring, and then someone jerking you up off the bottom, handing you more than you'd ever searched for, all the while filling your lungs with freshness, life-saving freshness. I can breathe in the security of my ROCK... my mountain, my Mt. Zion.

Let me leave you with this pic. I cannot tell you how precious this lady was at one of Belle's t-ball games. She talks of her blessings, walks across the street to watch her great-grandchildren play ball, and when she doesn't have a great view, she just might take a seat like this.

Quite the picture of security.
May we all perch ourselves surely, at ripe ole ages, wherever we go, with that same joy, for there is a mountain over the horizon, and His Word's daily beat beneath our flesh.

He is loyal to us. Hard to sop that one up, but let's sit, and be and know.