His Love Endures Forever

Summary: is often quoted at funerals. But this is not a Psalm about death... it’s a song about life. The life that only the good shepherd can supply.

OPEN: I once read the story about a 1st-grader stood in front of his classroom. The class had been taking turns in front of the room answering the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

This little boy stood up and said, "I’m going to be a lion tamer and have lots of fierce lions and tigers. I’ll walk into the cage and they will growl and roar."

Then he paused for a moment and added, "But of course, I’ll have my mommy with me."

Summary: is a powerful song of Praise. But behind this psalm of praise is a great deal of pain. What was the pain that led David to write this hymn to God, and what can we learn from David’s pain that make our song as powerful as his?

That little boy had been to the circus and he’d watched a lion tamer enter a cage full of ferocious lions and tigers. He’d been impressed with how brave and in control that man had appeared. What he was telling his class was that - one day - he wanted to be like that man. He wanted to be fearless. He wanted to be brave. He wanted to be in control.

read in its entirety, and pray

But THEN it suddenly occurred to him: Hey – that’s all well and good but a guy could get hurt in a place like that… unless someone bigger and stronger were there with him. Someone like his mother.

Hold that thought in the back of your mind for a minute.

I. Outside of church, where would you most likely to hear the 23rd Psalm quoted?

APPLY: The Psalm we’ve read today has inspired numerous hymns and contemporary songs.

That’s right, at funerals. I’ve heard a lot of preachers complain about that. Because, you see, the 23rd psalm is NOT a psalm about death… it’s a psalm about life.

Think about it. David is sitting on the side of a hill - watching his father’s flock.

· One of the best known is called “This is the Day that the Lord has made”

Are these sheep dead? … are they even sick? No… there’s not a thing wrong with this flock. They are ALIVE. They are cared for.

· And of course, it inspired the song by Chris Tomlin that we played earlier. And I noticed this morning that it also was the basis for the first verse of “In Christ Alone”.

David’s sitting there thinking about how GOOD life is for those sheep. They’re peaceful. They’re contented. Life is good and the sheep are at ease…

Other kinds animals may face dangers of predators like lions and bears but not his sheep. His sheep are safe and protected. No one is going to touch his sheep while he’s around. And the sheep have it good because they have a shepherd.

· When I was at camp we sang another song based on this Psalm: “My Lord, my God, my strength my song, has now become my salvation”

As David ponders on this, he realizes that HIS life is good too - because he also has a shepherd. God has given him everything he wants in life. God has given him:

o rest

· And it has inspired many lesser known songs including one by a Reggae singer named Bob Marley called “Corner Stone”.

o and refreshment

o and food

Many believe this was one of the “Psalms of Ascent” that Jews would sing on their way up to Jerusalem to take part in the Sacrifices and Feast Days. And there is some reason to believe that this was the Psalm that Jesus and His disciples might have sung right after their last Passover meal.

o and guidance

God has removed the fear from his life and given him courage when he’s faced with danger as shepherd out in field.

You see, this IS NOT a psalm about death. It’s a song rejoicing in life… life as only God can give it.

In addition, the 118th Psalm - is a Messianic Psalm. The part of the Psalm that talks about the cornerstone that was rejected by the builders was quoted by both Jesus and Peter as being about Christ.

II. NOT ONLY is this a song of life… it’s a song about a LIFE filled with confidence

This is a POWERFUL Psalm of praise.

Remember that little first grader? He wanted to be so brave and fearless and in control and he realized that that kind of confidence if someone bigger than he was was in the lion cage with him.

David recognized something like that too. He recognized HE could be brave - he could have confidence - if God was there with him.

This is a great Psalm of Praise. You can almost sense the Israelites dancing in joy as they sang it.

He visualized God preparing a table before him in the presence of his enemies... ()

Can you imagine that? Imagine all of David’s enemies gathered together in one room and David just walks right on in and sits down to eat. David is the guest of honor at a great banquet, and all his enemies can do is watch and seethe, because

(PAUSE)

- they can’t touch him

- they can’t hurt him

But lying behind the Praise in this Psalm there appears to be a great deal of pain.

- they can’t lift a hand against him…

When David walked with God, those who opposed him became powerless. When David prayed to God, and when he sought God’s direction in his life, God led him through the most difficult situations… even leading him thru the valley of the shadow of death.

In verse 5, David writes “In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free.”

That’s why, when the flock was attacked bears and the lions, David felt no fear. David simply took God with him and (as David told Saul) "…When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it…. The LORD… delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear..." ,

Psalm 118:5 NIV

5 When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord; he brought me into a spacious place.

And that’s kind of confidence allowed him to face Goliath when no one else would, saying:

Then in verses 10-13 he says:

“Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.” ()

Psalm 118:10–13 NIV

10 All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord I cut them down. 11 They surrounded me on every side, but in the name of the Lord I cut them down. 12 They swarmed around me like bees, but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them down. 13 I was pushed back and about to fall, but the Lord helped me.

And then in verse 18 he says

David’s confidence did not lie in his own abilities, but rather in the power & faithfulness of His God.

“All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.

ILLUS: I have personally experienced this kind of protection in some very REAL ways.

In the first church I served, a man had left his wife for another woman… but he wanted to keep coming back home for the comforts of his family. Now the husband was a trucker – a BIG man with a reputation for being tough.

The wife asked for my advice, but they’d never covered anything like this in Bible College, so I sought out the advice of some counselors in Ft. Wayne. They asked what we would do if a man were sinning like this within the church (her husband was not a Christian) and I said “well, we’d excommunicate him. We wouldn’t eat with him or associate with him.” They advised that she should shun him. If he wanted the other woman… he could do that… but the wife and daughters would have nothing to do with him.

They surrounded me on every side, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.

Psalm 18:18 NIV

18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support.

It told the wife about this and she said she could do it - but she wanted me there when she told him about her decision. We prayed about it and then set the date for the confrontation.

They swarmed around me like bees, but they died out as quickly as burning thorns; in the name of the LORD I cut them off.

The day arrived and they were standing in the kitchen talking as I stood back leaning against the wall at the doorway to the hall, listening with my hands in my pockets.

When she told him her decision he literally blew up. Realizing I had been the source of her decision, he turned on me with fury in his eyes. His fists were clenched and his veins were bulging from his face. Did I mention, I had my hands in my pockets? All he had to do was land one good punch and I was finished. Even with my hands OUT of my pockets I couldn’t have defended myself very well… so I did what all religious people would do in a situation like that: I said a silent prayer.

I was pushed back and about to fall, but the LORD helped me.

Even in that dangerous setting, a calm settled over me. I began to very quietly talk to the man and, in time, he calmed down backed off and left the house.

Now, this Psalm doesn’t tell us what had happened to David that had caused him so much pain, but a couple of possibilities come to mind. And the one that appeals to me concerns the time in David’s life when he’d been a servant in King Saul’s palace. Because of David’s heroics as a soldier for Israel, King Saul sensed that this young man was a threat to his throne and sought to kill David on several occasions.

God had literally taken me through the valley of the shadow of death. And tho’ I felt some fear, I was strangely at ease talking him out of his anger.

You see, when we TAKE God with us – when we pray to Him and seek His guidance, our enemies become powerless. They can threaten us. They can make our lives difficult and complicated, BUT they can never really damage us. Why? Because God has promised to prepare a table for us in the presence of our enemies... and to lead us EVEN Thru the valley of the shadow of death.

And then in verse 18 he says

So this is a song about life

And a song about a life filled with confidence

“The LORD has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death.”

And it’s also:

Now, this Psalm doesn’t tell us what had happened to David that had caused him so much pain, but a couple of possibilities come to mind. And the one that appeals to me concerns the time in David’s life when he’d been a servant in King Saul’s palace. Because of David’s heroics as a soldier for Israel, King Saul sensed that this young man was a threat to his throne and sought to kill David on several occasions.

III. A song ABOUT A LIFE filled with value and meaningfulness

ILLUS: I was with some friends last Saturday at a “card party.” We played euchre and would switch partners throughout the evening so that we could get acquainted with each other. At one point I sat down across from a woman who had lost a few games and was down on herself. She held her hand up beside her forehead and formed an “L” shape with the thumb and forefinger and laughingly said “Loser!”

Realizing he had to run for his life, David fled into the wilderness for safety. Ultimately, he fled to the cities of the Philistine’s (Israel’s arch-enemies) to hide out… and at one point feigned madness to avoid being imprisoned by the town leaders.

As I researched this psalm I read numerous sermons and commentators to see if I could discover any insights to share this morning it seemed that this was how many of them saw the sheep in this psalm. Losers! They would describe sheep as being:

· ignorant

· stubborn,

In time, David drew to himself several hundred men who were either in debt, in distress or discontented with King Saul’s leadership. And his small army eventually made an alliance with the Philistines for protection from Saul. Part of that alliance apparently involved pledging to attack the cities of the Israelites to prove their loyalty. But David “fudged” a little on that agreement. He would attack cities… but they were Philistine cities. And when he returned to the Philistines who were protecting him, he claimed the plunder from his raids came from Israelite cities.

This was a very difficult time in David’s life.

· easily frightened

· helpless

This was a very difficult time in David’s life.

· timid

And I’m told that it was during this dark period in his life that he wrote the fewest number of his Psalms.

· and feeble

Now… while all that might be true, it occurred to me that this was not the focus of David’s psalm. Close your eyes and listen this psalm again and see if you here God describing them as being losers:

Now, the reason I’m focusing on the background of this Psalm is because there are believers out there who see others who’ve suffered in this life, and they want to help. In our preachers’ group a couple of the men noted that one of the things that irritated them when this would happen was that well meaning Christians would often tell those suffering heartache, that what they needed to do was to just praise God.

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul:

He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Apparently it was hard for some Christians to identify with the pain of others, so they simply say something like:

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me.

“It’ll be ok. You just need to focus on what you have left in your life. After all, the Bible does say: “Be thankful in all things”

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies: You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

“It’ll be ok. You just need to focus on what you have left in your life. After all, the Bible does say: “Be thankful in all things”

Did you hear anything in that psalm about sheep being ignorant? Or stubborn? Feeble? Weak? No! There are no put-downs; no insults… no words of discouragement. Just words of acceptance and protection. The reason people love this psalm is because it’s so filled with assurances of God’s love and affection for us. This is the psalm of someone who senses God’s really cares for him… that God really loves him and wants to protect him.

David had value because God valued him.

Now, they’re right.

Likewise… we have value because God gives us value…

Now, they’re right.

“… we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

The Bible does say that.

You and I have a shepherd who wants to give our lives meaning and value. And when you get right down to it… that’s all we need in life.

The Bible does say that.

Ephesians 5:20 NIV

20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

says we should be “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything…”

ILLUS: Robert Ketchum tells about a Sunday school teacher who asked her group of children if any of them could quote the entire twenty-third psalm. A little 4 year-old girl raised her hand. But the teacher, a little skeptical, asked if she could really quote the entire psalm.

says we should be “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything…”

The little girl nodded her head and then said: "The Lord is my shepherd, that’s all I want."

says we should be “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything…”

So the 23rd Psalm is a song about life

And 5:18 says

And a song about a life filled with confidence

1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV

18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

But even though such statements are Biblical, they can seem trivial and heartless…

says “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

It’s about a life filled with meaning and value

But even though such statements are Biblical, they can seem trivial and heartless…

And one more thing…:

IV. It’s a song about a life of belonging

· If a person has just lost their job

“The LORD is MY shepherd.”

· If a person has just lost their job

· Or their home

I belong to Him… and He belongs to me

· Or their home

I once read the story about Ben Hooper, twice been elected governor of Tennessee. He often told this story from his childhood.

“My mother wasn’t married [when I was born]. When I started to school my classmates had a name for me, and it wasn’t a very nice name. I used to go off by myself both at recess and during lunch time because of the taunts of my playmates, which cut me deeply. What was worse was going downtown on Saturday afternoon and feeling every eye burning a hole through you. They were all wondering who my real father was.

“When I was about 12, a new preacher came to our church. I would always go in late and slip out early. But one day the preacher said the benediction so fast I got caught and had to walk out with the crowd. I could feel every eye in church on me. Just about the time I got to the door,… I looked up and the preacher was looking right at me.

· Or they’re going through a divorce

“‘Who are you, son? Whose boy are you?’

· Or they’ve lost a loved on

“I felt the old weight come upon me. It was like a big, black cloud. Even the preacher was putting me down, I thought.

“But as the preacher looked down at me, studying my face, he began a big smile of recognition. ‘Wait a minute,’ he said, ‘I know who you are. I see the family resemblance. You are a son of God!’

“With that, he slapped me across the back and said, ‘Boy, you’ve got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.’ “That,” Ben Hooper said, “was the most important single sentence anyone ever said to me.”

· Or they’ve been told they have a life threatening disease…

With Christ’s help, Ben Hooper had overcome his sense of rejection and inadequacy and claimed his inheritance as a child of God.

Those are NOT good times to remind someone to be thankful for all things.

CLOSE: The Lord is MY Shepherd.

Those ARE TIMES… to just sit with the person and cry with them.

You know. There is a distinctive difference between the sheep of the field, and us. Those sheep do not get to CHOOSE their shepherd. The shepherd chooses them. In the days of the Bible, when a shepherd bought a sheep, he’d take a firm hold on the sheep, pull out a long, sharp knife and cut a distinctive earmark into one of the ears of the sheep. In that way, even from a distance, it would be easy to determine to whom the sheep belonged.

The difference for us, is that – unlike the sheep – we get to choose whether or not we will take the mark of Jesus into our lives. His mark is distinctive – but what does that “mark” look like? The Bible is very clear on what the mark looks like. The mark starts with

Those ARE TIMES… to just sit with the person and cry with them.

· Faith. We must believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God.

ILLUS: Charles Swindoll told the true story of a man who had just found out his wife had an incurable disease. The man said “That afternoon I had gone to a friend’s house and had taken a fifth of whiskey of theirs home with me. After I put those kids to bed and prayed with them, my little Cathy saw me cry for the first time in her life.

· We must Repent. Acknowledge that we have sinned and fallen short of being accepted by Him living our lives in our own way. And the turn around and turn our lives over to Him.

She said: "Dad, I’ve never seen you cry before." I think that night she learned some things about her dad. That I was a man, that I was human, that I was hurt, alone and lonely.

· We must Confess that Jesus is our Lord. We must give Him everything we have. Our possessions, our loved ones and our very lives. We must determine to make Him the Lord of our lives.

She said: "Dad, I’ve never seen you cry before." I think that night she learned some things about her dad. That I was a man, that I was human, that I was hurt, alone and lonely.

· And lastly, we must accept the distinctive mark of what He did to purchase us. He bought us by His death, His burial and His resurrection from the dead. Thus, His mark upon us is taken by us when we die to our sins, are buried in the waters of Christian baptism, and rise to walk in newness of life.

I bathed, put on some pajamas, and headed for the icebox to mix a drink. At that very moment I think I acknowledged I was through with God for good, through with the Christian life I’d known because I had given everything to him and had now ended up with nothing but a hurt, lonely, confused wife and nest of problems. I was really angry, knowing once again that I had hurt Carolyn deeply.

As I went to the refrigerator, the doorbell rang, and an unbelievably wonderful man, Jack Johnston, was standing in the doorway.

As Jack walked into the room, he grabbed me & hugged me tight for maybe 10 or 15 minutes,

He hugged me so tight and with such strength of caring, that my anger, bitterness, and disappointment seemed transferred from my fragile soul to his very being.

He never quoted verses, he never said everything was going to be all right; he just blessed me with a short prayer and walked out the door, carrying my hostilities into the night.

(Charles Swindoll "Improving Your Serve")

My point is this: was written AFTER David encountered a difficult time in his life, not during. David’s praise came after he went through that dark time.

Psalm 30:5 NKJV

5 For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.

says: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” NJKV

The Bible is very clear on the fact that even in the lives of the finest Christians, there will come times when there will be sorrow and weeping. And in those times - psalms of praise and thanksgiving will not come easily.

But in the midst of those difficult times, there is danger

That danger is that we might turn away from God rather than turning toward Him And without an effort to seek God in our sorrow, there might NEVER come a time of joy in the morning. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning”

Sorrow and pain can – and has - driven some people away from God. But for the people who refuse that temptation there exists the promise that they’ll find that the Good Shepherd comes along side to comfort them

That’s why, when David wrote the 23rd he declared

Psalm 23:4 NIV

4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

That’s why, when David wrote the 23rd he declared “Yea though I walk through the VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH I will fear no evil for Thou art with me. Thy Rod and Thy staff – they comfort me.”

ILLUS: One doctor who has dealt with people who’ve had leprosy find his patients have two ways of responded to their disease: Leprosy is a terrible disease where people can not even feel their pain, and so go about mutilating their bodies because their bodies’ warning system, namely pain, does not function for them. This doctor noted that he noticed that his patients responded to the horrible effects of their disease in one of two ways:

· One type of patient bitterly turned away from God and because of that, were always filled with despair.

· But others looked for God’s help, And because they looked to God, these people faced life with hope and refused to let their disease control their lives.

ILLUS: In a sermon shortly after the sudden death of his wife, one preacher said: "I don’t understand this life of ours. But still less can I comprehend how people in trouble and loss and bereavement can fling away peevishly from the Christian faith. In God’s name, fling to what? Have we not lost enough without losing that too? You people in the sunshine may believe in the faith, but we in the shadow must believe it. We have nothing else." (Arthur John Gossip)

W. E. Vine once wrote: “To reject God, to turn away from the light, naturally brings darkness.”

What I’ve noticed about many people in this church is that many of you have come through difficult times in your lives and you’ve determined you don’t want to reject God. You don’t like the darkness. You prefer the light of God’s presence and you cling to it as unto life itself.

(PAUSE) And that was how David lived his life. He may not have written many Psalms during this time of his life but he was always seeking God’s leading and wisdom. He refused the temptation of turning away from God and instead sought to have God guide him and protect him in his time in the wilderness.

For example:

· When he was looking for a place to hide - he followed the advice from one of the prophets whose name was Gad, and found safety because he listened to him.

· Another time, he was about to go to battle, and he asked a priest to inquire of God’s will. He didn’t want to go into a fight unless God approved.

· When he was hungry, he turned to the priests at the Tabernacle for food.

· And when he had the opportunity to take revenge against King Saul saying:

1 Samuel 24:6 NIV

6 He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.”

David refused to fling away his faith in God. He wanted God’s guidance and approval even during these dark moments of his life. And because that God was so important to him in night of sorrow, he was able to write these powerful words of praise:

“Let Israel say: ‘His love endures forever.’

Let the house of Aaron say: ‘His love endures forever.’

Let those who fear the LORD say: ‘His love endures forever.’” (vss 1-3)

“The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

The LORD is with me; he is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies.” (vss. 6-7)

“The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.

Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: ‘The LORD’s right hand has done mighty things! The LORD’s right hand is lifted high; the LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!’

I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done.” (vss. 14-17)

“Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter and give thanks to the LORD. This is the gate of the LORD through which the righteous may enter. I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.” (vss 19-21)

You can almost sense David’s excitement as he sings this song. He’s not just singing … He’s literally SHOUTING!!! He wants everybody to know what God has done in his life.

And WHY is David shouting?

Why is he so excited?

Because God brought him through his night filled w/ weeping into a morning filled with joy.

It was David’s time of darkness that gave birth to this Psalm, because it was during that dark time that God showed David how much He loved him.

Someone once wrote:

“Only God could turn

A TRIal into a TRIumph.

A VICTim into a VICTory.

A MESS into a MESSage.

A test into a TESTimony.”

If it weren’t for those trials, those messes, those tests in our life, we wouldn’t have any messages or testimonies of God’s triumph in our lives.

I’ve got some great stories about how God has done mighty things in my life. But those stories came about when I was going through the roughest and most uncertain times in my life.

And I love those stories. Mostly I love them because they don’t brag on me - they brag on God and what He’s done in my life.

Now, one more thing I want you to notice about this Psalm.

This is a very special Psalm.

It’s a “Messianic” Psalm.

It predicted something about Messiah.

It told us that this Messiah (Jesus) was going to be the chief cornerstone of the bldg God intended to build.

Psalm 118:22–24 NIV

22 The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 23 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. 24 The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.

says “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

ILLUS: At the corner of any major building of that day, a builder would place a foundation stone. This was a very large and carefully shaped rock, and the builder was so careful about this stone because the stability of the rest of that building depended upon how solid that rock was.

All the rest of the building tied into that one huge stone.

Now in this Psalm God was declaring that the Messiah –Jesus – would be foundation of our faith. Without Jesus, there would be no Christianity.

ILLUS: Years back a group of “scholars” got together in what they called the “Jesus Seminar”. They didn’t approve of what they’d read in the Gospels and they were determined to strip those books of anything they felt hadn’t really been done or said about Jesus.

They had a very elaborate method of voting on each incident or statement in these stories about Jesus, but ultimately they stripped the Gospels of many of Christ’s teachings and miracles.

Why?

Because so much of Jesus’ teachings focused on the fact that HE WAS the Son of God and the only way to come to God.

Jesus was the CORNERSTONE that those Scholars rejected.

They didn’t like the idea that He was the cornerstone.

They wanted teachings that would please them… not a Savior who would change them.

You CANNOT take Christ out of Christianity and still have Christianity

o You can still have Buddhism without Buddha.

o You can still have Islam without Mohammed.

o You can still have Hinduism without the gods of the Hindus.

But if you take Christ out of Christianity… there is NO Christianity

Jesus IS the foundation of our faith. He is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to Father… except thru Him!!

And you know, what’s really cool about the 118th Psalm is that God allowed David to make this declaration about Christ. And the reason David got to share this truth with us, was because David stayed faithful to God through the darkness of his life and once his night of weeping was done David shouted with joy about how faithful God had been.

David’s time of testing gave him a testimony.

And the mess in his life gave birth to a message.

Is that true in your life?

Have you been able to lean on God in the midst of your trials and hardships

If so… then realize that your faithfulness in that dark moment in your life gives you the power to have a testimony. A message. A message that can change the lives of others for ever.

CLOSE: Her name was Charlotte Elliott and she’d been an invalid from her youth.

Her handicap filled her with resentment and anger. And one day, when a preacher was visiting her home, she let loose on him about her bitterness at what she had to live with.

The preacher listened to her but – instead of comforting her - he challenged her. He told her that what she needed to do was give her life totally to God. To come to Him just as she was, with all her bitterness and anger.

As you can imagine, she didn’t like that. She resented what seemed to be an almost callous attitude on his part, but God spoke to her through him, and she committed her life to the Lord. Each year on the anniversary of her decision, that preacher wrote Charlotte a letter encouraging her to be strong in her faith.

But even as a Christian she had doubts and struggles. What bothered her most was her inability to effectively get out and serve the Lord. Her brother had become a successful preacher and evangelist. But Charlotte felt that her health and physical condition prevented her from helping him.

Then in 1836, on the 14th anniversary of her conversion, she decided to write a song about her faith in God.

One of the verses goes this way:

“Just as I am, tho’ tossed about

With many a conflict, many a doubt,

Fightings and fears within, without,

O Lamb of God, I come! I come!”

“Just As I Am”

That hymn of faith has become one of the most powerful invitation songs of the church.

Years later, her brother said this: "In the course of a long ministry I hope I have been permitted to see some fruit of my labors, but I feel far more has been done by a single hymn of my sister’s, "Just As I Am."

Charlotte’s time of testing gave her a testimony.

And the mess in her life gave birth to a message

(Used "Just As I Am" as our invitation song)

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His Love Endures Forever

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