Be still my soul the Lord is on your side.
Romans 8:31-39, notably:
If God is for us, who can be against us? He Who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all. (vv. 31-32)
Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? (v.33)
Christ Jesus, Who died, more than that, Who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. (v. 34)
And the rest of the passage about how nothing or no one will separate us from the love of Christ.

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
James 1:12
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.

Leave to Thy God to order and provide.
1 Corinthians 14:33
For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

In every change, He faithful will remain.
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Be Still my soul, thy best, thy heavenly Friend
John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. (Jesus did this for us!)

Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Isaiah 43:2
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
1Peter 1:4
…and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you.

I keep going back to verses 7 and 8 in Psalm 42.
As “deep calls to deep…”
and then,
“All Thy breakers and Thy waves have rolled over me”,
that, at least in my view, this “water picture” pictures a rescue from God; I may be in despair and drowning in grief or sorrow, but God opens the floodgates of His love and it washes over me, rolls over me.
Then, going on to verse 8, the Lord commands His love in the daytime and His song is with me in the night.

Kim T. posted on this blog that she was finding a difference in the billowy waves of past trials and the ones she was experiencing now.
She said that she finds the waves comforting somehow. That is how I am seeing verse 7 of Psalm 42 now. Those breakers and waves are somehow comforting.

And to Marlys, thank you for answering my question about is it an attack from the enemy or my own sin in doubting. You are right, God’s response is the same. And that we still have God’s love and acceptance even in our sin, because of Christ. I think I get stuck in the “performance” thing, that somehow if I am doing all the right things, God is pleased with me, and if I mess up, then, I am on the outside again. I mean, I know that when I sin, I need to ask for forgiveness and that sin can cause me to feel a distance from God, but it is not because He has moved away, it was my sin moving me away from Him.

I once took a Bible study on marriage and being a wife. We were given a several page list, of how we were doing on being a wife, on our own spiritual life with God, etc…, and we were to mark as either “sin” or “displeasing to God” the areas where we were not living up to God’s ideal. An example would be, “Is my husband my number one priority after God”. If yes, okay, if no, then you marked it as either sin or displeasing God. Well, I had, I think, 82 items marked on this list of areas where I was not doing well! Our goal was that by the end of the class, we would be able to erase these things we had marked.
However, for me, it became that every time I opened my Bible or tried to pray or do my lesson, there were those 82 items glaring at me, and I thought, “where do I even start?” and it became so overwhelming that I felt like giving up altogether. I began to feel like I couldn’t talk to God (and have Him listen to me) until I took care of those 82 things! I felt like a mouse on that wheel; running, running, but getting nowhere.

It is hard work, for me, to get rid of that kind of thinking. The truth is, I can’t get rid of my sin by myself. I need God’s help!
It is hard to really grasp the unconditional nature of the love of God.
But hymns like The Deep Deep Love of Jesus, and Be Still My Soul, have the truth in them.

“See to it that you fasten your attention on God’s Word and STAY in it,
like an infant in a cradle. If you let go for one moment, you have falen away from the truth. The one intention of the devil is to get people away from the Word and to induce them to measure God’s will and works with their reason.” Martin Luther

That’s where we are headed on the next post with A Mighty Fortress!

Jesus Christ:
the only priest to come from another tribe Heb 7:14
the Seed of the woman promised in Gen 3:15
this Seed sprang from the line of King David Is 11:1
the Root now raised high, posted as a rallying banner for the peoples.Is 11:10
the one who conquerored death by rising from the grave Mt 28:6
is qualified to open the scroll Daniel 12:9.
Only as the slain Passover Lamb, who came to take away the sins of the world,is he qualified to open the seven seals of judgment Rev 6:1.
Jesus alone possesses the complete power, strength, and the authority to rule (symbolized by seven horns-seven stands for completion-horn represents authority)
Jesus alone possesses complete wisdom (eyes represent wisdom)

I formulated this answer by reading the cross reference verses and study notes in my Bible. Computers are great but I write down my answers on paper so I can remember what I want to share.

4. Be Still My Soul written by Katharina Amalia Dorothea von Schlegel.
she was born in 1697 and died around 1768. German Lutheran who was influenced by the pietistic revival. She may have been the canoness of an evangelical women’s seminary in Germany. Her surname may indicate that she was a court lady in the household of the Duke of Kothen.
In 1752, near the end of her life, she contributed at least 20 hymns to a collection of songs. Orginial text was published in 1752 as “Stille Meine Wille, Dein Jesus Hilft Siegen. It was published in 1855 in Hymns from the Land of Luther.

Connection to Eric Liddell
One source stated that Be Still My Soul fueled his athletic training and eventual career as a missionary. In the prison camp Liddell emphasized that surrender to God was the secret to his peace.

5. The music to the first verse seems heavy to me. Its as if the music is carrying the burden of the grief. In my present circumstance I sing it aloud when I get frustrated with waiting for change.

6. I think the enemy wants us to believe that God is not for us so he can keep us in despair and keep God from getting the praise due Him for carrying us through our circumstances.

Yes the enemy recently got to me. One Sunday night I had had enough of waiting for change and I went to the altar and, like Job, poured out my complaint. The next day the Lord answered me in a sermon based on Psalm 23. This is what He said to me through the words of Dr. Tony Evans: “Stop whining. It won’t change God’s timing. Lie down. Rest. Think only about God.” After I heard those words I realized this blog was the “green pastures” and “still waters” my Shepherd had led me to.

7. As I listened to Midday God healed a deep,deep wound from my childhood. I first met deception around the age of ten. I discovered my birth certificate in a family trunk and learned that the man I called Daddy was not my biological father. Although he gave me his name he never formally adopted me and to this day does not consider me as his daughter. I had never heard of attachment disorder. I have been struggling for a while to fully trust God to bring me out of this difficult season of my life. Now I understand why. I see now that the enemy has been trying to convince me that God is not going to keep His promises. The enemy knows how to play on our past wounds-even those that are buried so deep we don’t know they are there until God brings them to the surface as we can handle the truth.

I want to add that I am finding the study guide to be a great supplement to the blog. My time there is greatly enriched. Okay here goes. I hope all this soars through cyberspace.