“Can’t even walk…”

The wear and tear of life can be a big burden. For many of us this relates to the challenges of quarantine and attendant problems. But for some the weariness and burden is much bigger, preceding the pandemic. It encompasses more than the threat of the disease, more than being saturated with headlines that dominate the media, especially social media.

As I have faced some challenges of getting older, I have also experienced multiple physical injuries that are invisible to most people. This goes back at least to 2013. The physical pain may pass but the effects linger, unseen, and many times unfelt. The major problem is the accumulative effect of multiple problems. And that can be mentally and emotionally overwhelming.

Living in the era of the quaratine and all that such entails means that we have new normal for life. It is complicated when some “prescriptions” to solve problems may actually interfer with other problems. Many Christians want to offer the solution, but it ends up often just pushing what you can do to overcome. Long term this can lead to exhaustion: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Jamie Lynn Wilsom recorded a song (written by Colbert and Joyce Croft in 1975) seven years ago that expresses this exhaustion:

Even to walk is a challenge at times like this. But as she expresses it in song, it doesn’t end with “I can’t even walk…” But “I can’t even walk without God leading, holding my hand.”

So while the overwhelming nature of our times might be too much, the answer is not to “push through,” as if we have the strength to conquer everything. Rather “I can’t even walk without You holding my hand.”

This brings to mind Psalm 91, which I wrote about in 1985 while in seminary. The last three verses articulate the faith that clings, not to our strength, but to God’s promises, even in the worst of times.

So as we move forward this year and coming years, let us find strength, hope, and encouragement in God’s Word in the promises of Psalm 91.