Courage for September

Posted by deangonzales on September 1, 2009

sam-frodo In J. R. R. Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings, we’re presented with a poignant scene. The two Hobbits, Frodo and Samwise have just summitted a craggy ridge, from which they gaze forebodingly into the ominous Land of Mordor. There, in the distance, across the dark valley plain, ascends the dreadful Mountain of Doom, the dwelling place or Sauron, and the fiery pit into which they’ve been commissioned to cast the troublesome ring. Do you see the apprehensive and fearful look on the faces of these two Hobbits as they stare at the threatening mountain ahead of them?

This is the same foreboding look in the faces of some of us as we gaze ahead into the threatening Land of September. For some of us, it contains Mountains of Doom that make us very anxious. A home school mother of many stares at the educational demands and wonders if she can survive the steep climb. A Dad and Mom are very uneasy and concerned about sending their children off to school this year. An older couple is struggling with having just dropped off their college age son at an out of town university dormitory. Then there’s the young person who is trying to camouflage on the outside his fears about what’s ahead. But inside, his belly is fluttering with unsettling butterflies about the new school, friends, teams, classes, lunchrooms and challenges. Then, there are the professionals among us whose slower paced summer business hits full throttle just after Labor Day, clashing with the kids’ high paced extracurricular fall schedules. The sight of it all from a distance makes many just shudder with an unsettling sense of dread.

Psalm 18 preserves for us the soul tossings of David during a season of dread and trouble, when he was faced with enemies in his path. Here we find how it’s the Lord, and not some physician prescribed medication, that is the sedative and tranquilizer for his heart. Meditations on the protection and help of his heavenly Father enabled David to pluck up a heart of courage. They can help us too.

I love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. . . For by You, O Lord, I can run upon a troop; and by my God I can leap over a wall (Psalm 18:1-3, 29).

Dear Christian reader, as you look toward September, ask for and rely on your Heavenly Father’s help. He’ll lift up the valleys, and level the mountains before you.

Mark Chanski
Pastor of the Reformed Baptist Church of Holland, Michigan
Professor of Biblical Studies of the Reformed Baptist Seminary