Staying on Track

“The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1

Who do you run to…when the perfect job you have had for a decade is no longer available because downsizing. Who do you go to first…when faced with a sudden urgent emergency? What do you do…when you wake in the middle of the night and sleep eludes you, your mind racing a dozen tracks at once?

If only we lived on road at a time, like we drive a car. It is impossible to seatbelt yourself, fire up the ignition, put it in gear, and then traverse half a dozen roads at the same time. Living in three dimensions forbids any other line of movement than one at a time.

Not so our thoughts. They are more like those globes with motorcycle daredevils speeding within. Through the black girding we see one, then two, then three or four cycles roaring past each other in perfect timing, all around the diameter of the globe. Now imagine that there are hundreds of motorcycles zooming inside the orb and they represent your thoughts. Though we can only access “one thought at a time”; time is so fluid that it feels as if we are traveling competing roads all within same framework of time.

We may be focused on a project, measuring each step of the plan, but in the background we wonder, “What is for lunch?” From there we may run down a list of nearby restaurants, consider the food we are in the mood for, and think about walking or driving. We do wish we had a newer car, though. My neighbor got a Lexus, how can they afford that? They have a nice cat, though. Did I feed the dog this morning? Will I need my raincoat this afternoon; it drizzled on the way to work. My kids sure like playing in the puddles. I wonder how their school day is going. Oh, that one teacher! I need to talk to her right away about my youngest son’s last grade. It didn’t seem right. I wonder what college she went to; probably no major university.

That paragraph, of course, took me far more time to write than it did for you to read. And, to “think” it was perhaps a mere second or two, with thoughts overlapping and maybe never even losing hold of our chief concern; the project in front of us.

But many times we hit overload. The myriad of thoughts, especially negative ones, create a mental darkness, an inner fog that leaves us befuddled. If we are not careful we find ourselves so lost within the uncertainty we wind up frozen in time; not acting upon anything for fear of taking a wrong turn. Sometimes we seek a diversion just so we don’t have to deal with the load of thoughts that has changed from a few motorcycles to a globe so full of bees they hardly have room to fly.

King David understood this. Many of his psalms talk about feeling downcast or overcome. He has been chased by King Saul so long that he wonders if he will come out alive. He has had close associates turn their back on him, some even betraying his kindness to them. Where do we go, what do we when the peace of mind we once had has turned into a buzzing beehive?

David declares that the Lord is his light and his salvation. Our mind may be tied up and twisted together like unruly Christmas lights. A string of Christmas lights is impossible to untangle, this is one of the truths of modern existence. Imagine you are required to do exactly that, but also without any light at all!

No matter how dark it seems, the Lord is our light. He shines upon our lives to illuminate what seems so confusing to us. But even more spectacular, He shines from within our lives. Jesus told His disciples, “You are the light of the world.” Our thoughts may be tangled and our journey feel like midnight, but we can make progress without fear, for the Lord Himself is guiding, providing and delivering us.

“The Lord is the stronghold of my life.” Our bodies withstand over 14 pounds per square inch of atmospheric pressure. The pressure over our entire body adds up to just about a ton. You didn’t know you were that strong, did you? Our bodies have pressure within as well, which is why we aren’t all lying on the ground flattened like blow-up clowns. We are designed to withstand a certain amount of normal pressure on our bodies. But, let that outward pressure increase beyond a certain threshold, and we literally implode.

We are made the same way spiritually and emotionally. We go through life handling the day to day pressures of life. We make a living, balance our budgets, deal with relationships, care for our children and other activities common to humanity. Times come when the pressure increases past our ability to handle it. We are liable to “cave in”. We may feel like crying all the time, that we can’t handle life, or that we are literally falling apart.

David knows the power of the Lord’s stronghold. When he was under pressure and his life was threatened, he knew he could withdraw into the safety of the Lord. Just like we would physically run to a safe underground location when tornados threaten, we can run to the Lord to find safety when life overwhelms us.

Are your thoughts tied up in knots and it seems impossible to untangle them? Do you race from one thought to the next, round and round like those motorcycles in the cage? Ask the Lord to shine His light on your thoughts. Let your mind be illumined by His very presence, and rest in His ability to calm the nervous notions that do not let you rest.

Do you feel life is crashing in on you? Is it more than you can handle, heavier than you can carry, bigger than you can get your arms around? The Lord is your stronghold. Run to Him, trust His constant care. He is your inner place of safety; no one can harm you in His care.

As David says twice in this verse: “Whom shall I fear?” and “Of whom shall I be afraid.”