“I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” Psalm 121: 1-8
Are you going to let this bury you, or are you going to use this as a banner of your God’s faithfulness? We all have something that is monumental in our lives that we must settle and resettle. We all have something that we must decide will finally seal the coffin of our defeat or fly as the banner of our lives.
Finances may be crushing you. Mental health may be running you in circles and running you absolutely ragged. Interpersonal relationships might be the biggest struggle in your life. Your physical health may be breaking down, and it’s back to more doctors, trying new medicines, asking more questions, and facing more unknowns.
Whatever the situation is, and however many times it comes back around, you must settle this question in your heart and mind. Will you let this bury you or will this be your banner? In the Old Testament times, men and women would construct alters as a place to offer sacrifices to God to commemorate something wonderous He had done. They used tombs to enclose their dead.
German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is credited with the first draft of, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. This is true. Resilience is a beautiful thing. Whatever hardship isn’t strong enough to extinguish you; it fuels you instead. But you must decide.
You must decide, now is the time to erect your tomb and to tuck yourself inside it, or now you will sacrifice this “thing” and trust God’s goodness and peace and mercy to see you through it. Tombs and alters are both memorials. A tomb memorializes the life that lived, but it houses the decaying bones of the past. An alter memorializes the way God showed up and gave an answer.
You choose every time your “thing” demands attention. You choose to seal the door on your life and to let your bones turn to dust, or, you choose to resurrect a monument to God, sacrificing something for His glory and striving to see His good, in all things.