STAY WITH ME

Heavenly Father,

We come to You now lifting up the needs of our people.

Lord, You see every name on our prayer list— every situation, every burden, every quiet struggle that hasn’t even been spoken out loud.

Lord, we pray for those who are sick.

For those in hospitals, those awaiting results, those living with chronic illness, those who are weary in body—

Bring healing where there is sickness. Bring strength where there is weakness. Bring rest where there is exhaustion.

Be near to them, Lord.

We pray for those who are hurting.

Those walking through grief, those carrying heavy hearts, those facing uncertainty, those who feel overwhelmed or alone—

Comfort them, Lord.

Remind them that they are not forgotten. Remind them that You are close to the brokenhearted. Give them peace that does not make sense to the world, but holds them steady in the middle of it.

We pray for those who are lost.

Those who do not know You, those who have wandered, those who feel far from You—

Draw them back, Lord.

Soften hearts. Open eyes. Put people in their path who will reflect Your love clearly and truthfully.

And give us the courage to be those people.

Lord, we lift up each name on our list now…

(pause here and name individuals aloud)

God, we trust You with every one of these situations.

You see what we cannot. You are working even when we don’t understand.

So we place them in Your hands— believing that You are good, that You are near, and that Your mercy endures forever.

We ask all of this in the name of Jesus,

Amen.

Psalm 118:1–29 NKJV

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let Israel now say, “His mercy endures forever.” Let the house of Aaron now say, “His mercy endures forever.” Let those who fear the Lord now say, “His mercy endures forever.” I called on the Lord in distress; The Lord answered me and set me in a broad place. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is for me among those who help me; Therefore I shall see my desire on those who hate me. It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in princes. All nations surrounded me, But in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They surrounded me, Yes, they surrounded me; But in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They surrounded me like bees; They were quenched like a fire of thorns; For in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. You pushed me violently, that I might fall, But the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation. The voice of rejoicing and salvation Is in the tents of the righteous; The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted; The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. I shall not die, but live, And declare the works of the Lord. The Lord has chastened me severely, But He has not given me over to death. Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, And I will praise the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord, Through which the righteous shall enter. I will praise You, For You have answered me, And have become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I pray, O Lord; O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. God is the Lord, And He has given us light; Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will praise You; You are my God, I will exalt You. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Let’s not rush Psalm 118.

Because we know parts of it— we quote pieces of it— but are we sitting with it enough to really understand it?

So of course the book of Psalms is riddled with songs that draw emotion from any sort of circumstance. Most Psalms have authors associated with them—such as David. The author of Psalm 118, however, is up for speculation.

But there is something we do know.

This is someone who has been surrounded by threat to life, pressed, opposed—and is choosing, almost stubbornly, to praise anyway.

Listen to the language:

“The nations surrounded me on every side…”

He feels stuck. Outnumbered. He knows that if this situation depends on him, he is done.

But even so he says:

“In the name of the Lord, I will cut them off.”

He doesn’t pull a Samson and say, “I’m strong enough.”

He’s saying:

“I am surrounded, my life itself is at risk… and God is still sufficient.”

If you read Psalm 118 slowly, you start to see movement in the scripture.

The scripture begins with giving thanks to the Lord. But then it shifts:

“Out of my distress I called on the Lord.”

This person is really struggling. This person is experiencing distress.

And then:

“The Lord answered me and set me free.”

Do you see the pattern?

Distress → plea → deliverance → praise.

That is how this Psalm moves.

But here’s the thing—

that pattern doesn’t always complete itself.

Something interrupts it.

Fear.

Fear has a way of stifling praise.

The psalmist says:

“The Lord is for me; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

Now if you just read that quickly, it sounds like confidence.

But if you slow down—it’s actually a question of allegiance.

Because the psalmist is not saying that people can’t hurt him. They can. They might. They probably already have.

What he’s saying is:

“They don’t get the final word.”

At the end of the day—the psalmist knows that whatever man does to him will never thwart the good plan that God has, even if it doesn’t seem good in the moment when all hope feels gone.

There will always be hope in the provision that God provides— in this life, or in heaven.

But not everyone lives like that.

Fear has a way of creeping in.

Fear paralyzes you in the big things and the small things.

Who here has been so fearful that you felt like you couldn’t even pray?

You might say you were mad, or heartbroken, or overwhelmed—

but underneath all of that is fear.

Fear of loss. Fear of the unknown. Fear of rejection. Fear of being alone. Fear of being wrong. Fear of what people might think.

And fear doesn’t just stop prayer—

it stops praise.

Maybe you don’t openly talk about your faith when it comes up. Maybe you don’t serve because you’re afraid you’ll look like you don’t know what you’re doing. Maybe you avoid church because you don’t want to be labeled. Maybe you avoid Scripture because you’re afraid it might actually change you.

There are a lot of ways fear keeps us from finishing that pattern.

Shame arises from the fear of men, conscience from the fear of God.

Samuel Johnson

I saw that in myself in a small moment just last week.

I was in Louisville for a work trip.

I went with two coworkers who live by faith through the Spirit. We had been talking about how refreshing it is to be around people who think the same way—who share the same worldview, who care about it deeply.

And then we went into a bookstore.

And the longer we stayed, the more I realized—

this space carries messages… ideas… imagery… that don’t align with what I believe about God, about truth, about the world.

And in that moment—

instead of asking myself what it might look like to represent Christ there—

I made a joke.

“Good thing we’re not wearing Christian apparel… we might get… you know…”

It was a joke.

But it revealed something real.

Because underneath it was this:

“I don’t want this to cost me something.”

And my coworker—without correcting me harshly—just said:

“No… that’s when I’d want to spread it more.”

And in that moment, I realized—

I had already decided, without saying it out loud, that this was not a place I wanted to be identified with Christ.

And that led me to this:

I wasn’t rejecting Christ.

But I wasn’t representing Him either.

And I had to ask myself:

When did I start deciding where I’m willing to be associated with Him?

When did I start choosing environments where my faith feels safe enough to express?

Because Psalm 118 doesn’t sound like that.

Psalm 118 sounds like someone who says:

“I was surrounded… and I still praised.”

Verse 22 says:

“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”

Sit in that image.

A builder examines a stone… evaluates it… and decides:

“This is not useful.”

And throws it aside.

Rejected.

And yet—

that very stone becomes the foundation of everything.

That is Jesus.

Rejected by the very people who were supposed to recognize Him.

The religious leaders—the ones tasked with leading people to God— missed Him completely.

And not only did they miss Him—

they made the decision to put Him to death.

So now the question shifts:

If the cornerstone was rejected…

why are we so committed to being accepted?

Think about Noah.

We talk about him like it’s a children’s story.

But slow down.

God tells him to build something that makes no sense— in a culture that has never seen rain like that.

No support. No validation. No approval.

And he spends years—decades—doing it anyway.

He doesn’t adjust his obedience based on who is watching.

He just obeys.

And that brings us to Palm Sunday.

When Jesus enters Jerusalem, the people are shouting:

“Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

That comes straight from Psalm 118.

They are pulling this psalm into the street. They are declaring:

“This is Him.”

And for a moment—it looks like bold, public, unashamed faith.

But if you stay in the story…

the crowd doesn’t stay the same.

And within days, those same streets echo with:

“Crucify Him.”

We don’t know if it was the exact same people—

but we do know this:

the same kind of heart can shout “Hosanna” one day and stay silent the next.

And I don’t think most of us are standing in danger of shouting “crucify Him.”

But I do think—

we are capable of something quieter.

Hesitation.

Silence.

Withdrawing when faith would require us to stand.

Standing in that bookstore in Louisville…

I wasn’t rejecting Christ.

But I wasn’t representing Him either.

Psalm 118 is not inviting us into louder personalities.

It’s inviting us into deeper allegiance.

It is asking:

Who has the final word over your life?

God?

Or the people around you?

So when you walk into a space where your faith feels out of place…

When that tension rises up in you—

that moment where you decide what version of yourself to present—

what will you do?

Will you continue to say - Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!

Or will you choose to stay silent.

11704 Virtue is bold and goodness never fearful.

William Shakespeare

The call is not just to believe privately—

and it’s not to pressure others—

but to live in such a way that your allegiance is visible.

Not aggressive. Not performative. But unmistakable.

Closing Prayer

Lord,

Take us deeper than surface-level faith.

Expose the places where we quietly pull back, where we measure our obedience against comfort.

Teach us what it means to trust You fully— not just in belief, but in presence.

Give us the courage to be identified with You in every space we enter.

Not because we are strong— but because You are, and You are for us.

Amen.

Benediction

Go into this week rooted in the One who was rejected and became the cornerstone.

And wherever you go—

represent Him well.

Amen.