Psalm 94:17-19 – If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. When I thought, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.

THEME OF THE DAY: HE WILL HOLD YOU FAST. The title of today’s nugget is not mine. It is actually a title of an incredible hymn penned by Ada Habershon who lived from 1861 to 1918. Allow me to share just the first verse and the refrain or chorus or whatever that thing is called repeated after each verse. The hymn’s first verse reads, “When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast; When the tempter would prevail, He will hold me fast. I could never keep my hold through life’s fearful path for my love is often cold; He must hold me fast. He will hold me fast, He will hold me fast. For my Savior loves me so, He will hold me fast.” There are two other verses in this hymn equally powerful and uplifting to the weary soul. I would encourage anyone who is able to “you tube” this song and listen to it. No matter how dark life may currently be; no matter the depth of sorrow and pain gripping us, one will find solid Biblical theology in this glorious hymn to lift the gloomy clouds hanging over a heavy heart. It will point us straight to the Lord Jesus.

As I was remembering, reading the lyrics, then listening to this hymn, my thought was, “I wonder what scripture inspired the writer? Could it have been today’s scripture?” Regardless of her scriptural inspiration, what we find in Psalm 94 is strength for the day; a place of safe refuge in the storms of life; and a beautiful picture of the child of God clinging to the God of all comfort who holds them fast. Let’s consider two encouraging truths from today’s scripture to help us keep on keeping on when life gets hard, messy, and feels overwhelming.

First, we will only know deep intimacy and the experience of God’s steadfast love when we “bottom out” in life. That doesn’t mean we must fall into gross sin. What it does mean is we must truly become “Beatitude-type Christians” if we want closeness with the Lord Jesus – “Blessed are the poor in spirit; Blessed are those who mourn” (Matthew 5:3-4). Only the humbled, the broken, the people who know their spiritual emptiness are the ones Jesus reveals Himself to with consolations to cheer the soul. Self-sufficient, prideful, busy, and indifferent Christians will not experience Christ in His love, beauty, and sustaining strength. We must be emptied of self before we may be filled with Him.

The next thing to embrace if we want to experience the hymn and Biblical truth of “He will hold you fast” is closely related to the first application. Not only are we to be broken, emptied of self, mourn over sin, and realize our spiritual bankruptcy, we must be totally convinced and abandoned to the Lord Jesus as our only hope and strength. Pay attention to the language of the Psalmist. He knew without the Lord, he could not go on. He knew that unless the Lord had been his help, he was doomed. And here is the acid test. It is easy for us to say, “I am nothing without the Lord.” It is also not very difficult to say, “I rely upon the Lord for strength in my life; for help in all the challenges I face every day.” Saying falls short. Words of profession must be validated by actions of practice. It is what we do that determines if we truly are as desperate for Him as we say we are and convinced of our total inability to cope with life on our own. And what will this “doing” be that shows we are clinging to the Lord as our only source of help in life? Our prayer lives. It is the “desperate prayer life” that is the real prayer life. Not desperation in calling out to the Lord just to get us through a jam in life. No, it is the prayer life realizing the need to experience the intimacy of His Person in steadfast love; His consolations to lift up the soul in dark times. Our Lord is not a “spiritual paramedic” that we call upon in times of difficulty. Prayer is not a spiritual 911 call. It is a deepening relationship of communion with the God who says “I will hold you up.” Pray for help in tough times for sure, but if prayer is resorted to only in times of need or hurried without seeking to simply be with the Lord, then we will remain very shallow in knowing Him and the joy of being held up by Him in a real relational context.

He will hold you fast. It is a great hymn and a great truth. May the Lord help us realize it more and more through prayer that seeks to know Him as the One who holds us fast.

PRAYER: “Father, I so praise You for holding my hand and not letting me go when I am fearful of letting You go.”

QUOTE: “Our perseverance in the faith is not left to us. We persevere because God perseveres and will not let us go”