I am weak but Thou art strong;
Jesus, keep me from all wrong;
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.
Just a Closer Walk with Thee
By: Anonymous
Listen as you read. This is a great old dixie jazz version. Don’t be startled when it picks up around 2:49.
Over the next seven weeks we are going to alternate between two different hymns, Just a Closer Walk with Thee, and Just a Little Talk with Jesus. We will explore these ideas of walking and talking with Jesus and how essential there are to our journey toward greater spiritual resonance. Learning to live with a greater awareness of God’s presence with us is what we at Resonant 7 want to help you do.
Along the way, we will also be welcoming a dear friend of mine to join us on that journey. Dr. Sherri Woods will begin contributing to Resonant 7 with a new series of blogs and companions under the heading Wednesday Wanderings beginning next week. I have experienced a taste of these offerings and I know you will be blessed as you spend time walking along with her as I have been. Welcome Sherri!
Weak/Strong
As we begin this part of the journey of walking along with Jesus, the writer starts with an interesting acknowledgement, our weakness and God’s strength. Both are important foundational concepts to our faith that few followers would deny, yet we too often live like the opposite is true on both counts. We act like we are stronger than we really are, and God is weaker than He actually is.
This acknowledgement allows us to begin our journey with a measure of honesty that will help us along the way. We are talking of course about a lot more than just physical strength, though even that is a part of it. I like this image because it represents how we often think of ourselves, with an overestimation of our strength. But I think it also can convey the reality that we can tap into a strength much greater than what it appears on the surface we may possess when we rely on the strength of God.
And we desperately need that strength as we consider the journey before us. Walking along with Jesus is not easy, as anyone who has done it for any length of time will be able to identify. Honestly, it would be impossible if it were not for the strength of Christ in us helping us at every single step in the road.
There is a marvelous song that addresses this truth. All I Have is Christ makes the statement that Jesus is everything. He is all I have, but it goes on to paint an incredible story of why that is a good thing. At the point of commitment and surrender the song says in the third stanza, “Now Lord I would be Yours alone, and live so all might see the strength to follow Your commands could never come from me.”
We do not begin this journey without the help of the Holy Spirit revealing to us our need for a Savior, and Christ’s willingness to be that, but we also can not even follow through with our commitment to live for Him unless He gives us the strength to do so. But praise His Name, He does so, and gladly!
Keep Me From All Wrong
There is a great movement implied in this. Not just let me stay safe in one place, but as I walk along keep me from all wrong. That which I might bring on myself as well as that which others might invite me to join. And I suppose there are two aspects of this prayer.
- Deliver me from evil
- Keep me from it in the first place
The first is an important prayer which Jesus taught His disciples to pray (Matthew 6:14). When we find ourselves in a wrong place, doing a wrong thing, we cry out to be delivered from that place and activity. But I like this prayer because it is proactive. Keep me from that wrong place and thing so I do not even go there.
It is a further acknowledgement of our weakness as well as this truth in James.
“each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” James 1:14-15
When we see it this plainly, making the choice for right which leads to life, seems simple, but it does not always present itself so clearly. That is then compounded by the fact that we are longing to be satisfied, and that pursuit sometimes leads us astray, but we will look into that on Thursday.
Think of it this way. We can make much better music, be more resonant, when we are in tune. We acknowledge we are weak, prone to get out of tune, and that we need to routinely tune our hearts. We come to the One who is strong, evidenced by the fact that He is always in tune. We ask Him to keep us in tune, from all wrongs, and that puts us in a position to allow His song to resonate in us. Here’s to getting, and staying, in tune.
Happy Tuning!
Jesus, I am weak. Though I would rather not admit that at times, I revel in it here and now as I simultaneously declare You are not. On the contrary, You are strong. Your strength can keep me from all wrong, and so I ask You right now to do just that, all to the glory of Your name, that I may walk closer to You today. In Jesus name. Amen.
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Video 7.1 Transcript
Welcome to Tuesday Tunings at Resonant 7, where we reflect on the reality of God and resolve to let it resound in our lives, repeatedly. Let’s tune our hearts.
I am weak but Thou art strong;
Jesus, keep me from all wrong;
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.
This is a great place to begin, acknowledging our weakness and His strength. Are you familiar with your weakness. That’s a start? Admit it to God, then thank Him for His strength.
Here is the ancient prayer Jesus taught His disciples, “Deliver us from evil.” In addition to the wrong without, this is also a prayer that we would be kept from the wrong within. Ask Jesus to keep you from all wrong.
Satisfaction. So elusive. Think of one thing that you want today. You imagine you will be satisfied when you receive it, but if you have longed for anything before and received it, you know our longing often turns to the next thing. Ask God to show you what you are longing for today, then surrender it?
When we long for God, instead of trying to satisfy that longing with something else, we can be truly satisfied. Why? Because He is the One for whom we were created to long. When we learn how to walk along daily close to Jesus we find the secret to satisfaction. Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you how to walk with Jesus.
Take a few moments to talk to Jesus about what has surfaced in your heart, or just listen to what He is saying to you, then we will sing once more.
Sing
Take the awareness of God’s presence cultivated in these last few minutes into the next ones and beyond. Until next time, be Resonant.
Image Attributions
Walking and Talking – https://pixabay.com/photos/human-friends-men-portrait-forest-3729591/
Weak/Strong – https://pixabay.com/photos/man-board-drawing-muscles-strong-2037255/
Keep Me From All Wrong – https://pixabay.com/photos/ethics-right-wrong-ethical-moral-2991600/
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