“When my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” (Psalm 61:2)

There are times when the pressures of life appear to surmount without any relief in sight. Every person has faced this challenge at one time or another and has wondered if he or she possessed the ability to keep moving forward.  St. John of the Cross, a writer in the 16th century, referred to this experience as “the dark night of the soul.” It is like entering a dark tunnel and not being able to see the light at the end. Moreover, the Psalmist describes it in language depicting the condition of the heart when he says, “When my heart is overwhelmed.” He did not say, “when my heart was overwhelmed, but rather, when my heart is overwhelmed. It implies that the dreadful place of an overwhelmed heart is not a once in a lifetime occurrence, but the experience will more than likely be repeated. In that strange and unfamiliar place, our faith is being tested. He is giving instructions from his own personal life experiences, and it is probable that there was a time when he did not know what to do. Hopelessness leads to despair, and then a kind of death occurs within the soul. Even though the body maintains its motion, it ceases to live within its members. The hollow feeling causes the person to be held captive as a prisoner to the moment as the entry level of the initial pain arrests the soul.

In order to press past this stage, it requires reaching beyond our current references and trusting in the One who knows what would otherwise be unknowable. He is higher than the heights of those things that stand in our way and would otherwise obscure our vision. Authentic faith catapults us into the future with confidence. When we are blinded by uncertainties, we are suddenly surprised by God’s grace. He reveals Himself as being greater than the problem. His grace appears in abundance and surpasses anything we could have imagined. Additionally, His Spirit was with us all the while. His objective is to lead us to the Rock of Ages—a stable and steady place where we can place the weight of our lives upon its surface. As we stand on the Rock, we are stilled so that we may see the glory of the Lord as He leads us from grace to glory.

Although there remains many things unknown to us, the difference now is what we learn after learning to trust in the Lord. No longer leaning to our own understanding, we submit all things to Him. All future planning then takes into consideration the unknown, yet trusting the One who knows all things. Without fear or trepidation. all plans are submitted to Him. “If the Lord wills, we will do such and such.” Every plan is preceded with a prayer of submission. To accept His will as being for my good and for His glory. His thoughts and plans for us are to give us a hope-filled life and a glorious future. The Rock that we stand upon is higher than I.