If this were not an assignment from the LORD, I would surely not do it. I had no idea, as is often the case, what I would write today. After praying and asking God what to write He gave me this. I pray that it blesses somebody.
“They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay” (Psalm 18:18 KJV).
“Come Out Here to Stay!”
In my early childhood, boxing and baseball were about the only sports we knew anything about. Probably because we lived in an oppressive Jim Crow society with white landowners treating my family like slaves. And Joe Louis, the Brown Bomber, had been knocking out Caucasians right and left, literally! Moreover, less than a decade before I was born, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and was hitting game-winning home runs against curveballs and fastballs thrown by white pitchers. All the while, haters in the stands and on the field yelled insults and racist taunts at him. We, my brothers and sisters and I, fought at times like brothers and sisters often do and played baseball in the yard on warm summer evenings whenever we could.
Life, no, not life but the enemy of life, can throw some illusive curveballs that will disrupt your normal activities. In baseball, a curveball is hurled with a powerful downward spin. The batter sees it coming, but just as he is about to strike, it drops and veers to the side. Curveballs come at us unexpected and uninvited. They can get you off course and cause you to strike futilely at the wind, but they do not have the velocity of a fastball. Fastballs are thrown with such speed and force that the batter may not be able to see where it is going. A wild fastball might hit you in the shoulder, chest, gut, or head and leave you startled or flat on your back.
Curveballs and fastballs come at us in many forms, e.g., bad medical reports like a cancer diagnosis, heart attack, stroke, spinal stenosis, etc., loss of employment, or your child in trouble. The enemy throws curveballs and fastballs to get us off course, to break our spirits, depress us, and cause us to lose faith and hope. But He is a liar and a thief! “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10a NIV).
Curveballs and wild fastballs are thrown repeatedly when we are down, but we are not defeated because we are God’s children. We are equipped with staying power! We have a protective shield (Psalm 28:7). David said, they (his enemies) prevented (attacked) me in the day of my calamity (when I was in distress), but the LORD was my STAY. He didn’t let me go down and drown in sorrow. A song we sang in church during those hot revivals is not sung anymore, but it is as relevant today as it was when we sang it back then.
I’ve come out here to stay Lord, ‘till I die!
I’ve come out here to stay Lord, ‘till I die!
Come out here to do your will, ’till I die!
Come out here to do your will, ’till I die!
Stay Lord, Stay Lord, ‘till I die!
Stay Lord, Stay Lord, ‘till I die!
Stay on course! Don’t strike at the wind! Knock that devil out from behind your protective covering (Jesus)! Knock his fastballs out of the park!
Oh! and live! Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10b NIV).
Focus Quote:“The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him” (Psalm 28:7 NIV).
