A few weeks ago during my morning sermon, I spoke about how idols are “speechless” (Habakkuk 2:18), but when you know the Living God, He speaks to you through His word.  Last Sunday I experienced yet another example of this.

Friday and Saturday, both my wife Cheryl and our son Michael had come down with cold/flu-like symptoms.  Cheryl had a bad headache and backache, sore throat, and was extremely tired, and Michael felt much the same way, and had a very raspy throat as well.  As a result, both of them were going to miss church on Sunday morning.  Saturday evening, as I got ready to go to bed, I began to get a bad headache … I was concerned.  By Sunday morning, I was not feeling well at all. I had been up several times during the night, with the headache, and my back was hurting a lot as well. I could feel something begin to affect my throat too.  I did NOT want to get up Sunday morning.  Had I been anyone but the pastor, with three messages to preach that day, there is no way I would have gone to church at all.  However, like most men, a pastor has times when he has to “bite the bullet” and go to work when he doesn’t feel like it.  Adding to the concern is the awareness that hundreds of people are looking for a word from God through the message you are going to preach; it is a weighty responsibility.

So I knew what I had to do: I needed to spend time with the Lord before I went to church.  It is important every day, and especially every Sunday.  Jesus told us in John 15:5 that we need to abide in Him, and “without Me, you can do nothing.”  It was going to be even more vital on a day like this.  I needed a word from God to help me through the day.  I would not be disappointed.

When I sat down to read my Bible, I turned to the book of Psalms.  I almost always begin with a Psalm, and then I continue reading wherever I have left off in my other Old and New Testament readings.  I don’t read a set amount of chapters or verses each day, but as a spiritual mentor advised me years ago, read each section “until God speaks” – until I have some teaching, direction, etc. from the portion.  I had left off my Psalm reading in Psalm 69:28, so I opened my Bible to that Psalm to begin to read.  When I did, I laughed out loud!  Here is how the first verses would read:

“But I am afflicted and in pain; may Thy salvation, O God, set me securely on high.  I will praise the name of God with a song …”.  (Psalm 69:29-30)

The Lord often gives me a word that is appropriate for the day, but this one was astonishingly applicable for this particular day.  To begin with, “I am afflicted and in pain” could not have been more appropriate to describe the way I felt.  As I said, I literally laughed out loud at how well it fit.  But then came the encouragement: “May Thy salvation, O God, set me securely on high.”  I would need God’s help to get through this day.  Sundays are always difficult for a pastor, especially when he preaches multiple services.  Following “normal” Sundays I feel as if I have been run over by a truck.  This day, with a cold or flu, would appear to be unbearable.  But this verse reminded me that God would be my salvation; HE would “set me securely on high.”  I have seen God get me through enough difficult situations in recent years to have confidence that He will help me accomplish everything I need to do when I do not feel my best.  I know that, but it was encouraging to have such a specific reminder.  Then verse 30 was the topper: “I will praise the name of God with a song.”  My sermon title for the day?  “A Song in the Night”, on how we can sing praises to God even during dark days!  I wasn’t going to just preach the message that day; I was going to get to live it!  But through that Psalm God told me that my message would indeed glorify Him, as I depended upon Him for help.  I left home for church with a renewed confidence that the Lord would be my Helper. 

God did not disappoint me that day.  I knew that He was using prayers that were going up for me, and several of our folks who would encourage and minister to me in different ways.  I don’t think my illness was a distraction to anyone during the services, and I was able to present the word just as the Lord had laid it on my heart.  I am always tired during the evening service, and I was last Sunday night, but I did not feel as bad as I thought I might.  If the sickness had progressed in me like it had in Cheryl and Michael the last couple of days, I would have really been in bad shape Sunday night.  But although I was not “well” I was not horribly sick either.  And by Monday, I was remarkably well – well enough to try my hand at burning something on the grill for both sets of our married kids who came in for Labor Day!

  I was grateful that God did what He told me that He would do: give me His salvation and set me on high.  And even more than just the deliverance He gave me for that specific day, I could be grateful that I serve the Living God, who speaks to me daily through His word.  If you are not in the habit of it, I hope that you will make it your practice to begin each day in His word – not just a daily Bible reading “ritual”, but seeking a personal word for your day from the God who speaks.