You Lift Me Up

West Auburn on a sunny summer afternoon

YOU LIFT ME UP Psalm 61:1-2 Can you give me a lift? I felt really inadequate. Looking up to the top shelf at Wal-Mart I could see the Power-Aid Zero. But I couldn’t reach them. I thought I’d improvise. I’m pretty clever. If I could just stand on the back of my cart. I pictured myself falling off the cart. Or stand on the bottom shelf. I envisioned the entire shelf coming down on me. Might make for a good lawsuit, but I decided not to go that route. I was still weighing my options when this young (tall) college Co-Ed passed by. She asked if she could help me, and promptly reached up and pulled down 4-32 ounce bottles, and handed them to me. Thanks? Not having a ladder I needed someone to ‘give me a life’. That happens a lot in life. And not just for the vertically challenged people. We all need that help. I had planned to share a 6-pointer from Psalm 61 titled “SIX THINGS PRAYER DOES IN YOUR LIFE”. 1) Go farther. 2) Reach higher. 3) Come closer. 4) Grow richer. 5) Live fuller. 6) Be happier. Instead I will focus on #2. Perhaps the full version later. Psalm 61: 1 Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. 2 From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Often there is a spiritual / physical parallel in applying Scripture. Prayer may not have allowed me to reach higher physically to get my Power-Aid, but God often supplies people in our lives to help us go further and reach higher. I NEED OTHER PEOPLE IN MY LIFE WHO WILL BE USED OF GOD TO HELP ME BE A BETTER CHRIST-FOLLOWER. Some of you reading this have helped me reach the top shelf. Thanks. I really like the song “You Raise Me Up”. Especially the version sung by The Boston Celtic Women. Josh Groban is good, too. Google it. Listen to it. WTE APPLCATION: WHO DO YOU HAVE IN CURRENT RELATIONSHIP WHO HELPS YOU REACH THE TOP SHELF? To reach higher? Who do have who you can say, “You raise me up?” Psalm 61:2 “Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. God, YOU are the One who helps me reach the top shelf. One of the practical ways You do it, God, is to give me people who raise me up, To be more than I can be.” If you do not have a couple of raiser-uppers in your life, ask God to send you one. Let me know if I can give you a lift, Pastor Bob

Blessings, Pastor Bob