Hallelujah Even Here: A 5 Day Devotional by Lydia Laird

Scriptures: Psalms 23, Psalms 34:17-22, Matthew 11:28-30, Hebrews 13:5

“Right now, I feel a little overwhelmed
Right now, I could really use some help
Right now, I don’t feel like ‘it is well with my soul.’”

We’ve all been there before… that dark, lonely place where the pain feels unbearable and your mind is filled with confusion and question marks. 

You get a call from the doctor with news that will change life as you know it.  

You give your heart away only to have it broken.

You lose a child or a loved one.

Depression has its grip so tight around your heart that even taking your next breath is exhausting.

You failed those who trust you, and now you carry the shame with you every day. 

He cheated, she betrayed you, you lost your job, etc… The list could go on and on. 

Maybe you’re walking in a season like this right now and you are scrambling to find some kind of peace in the midst of the storm.  I’ve been there, and in some ways, I am there.  And while I’m not about to promise you a quick fix to your problems or tell you to “say this many Hail Mary’s and ____ will happen,” I am here to tell you that you are NOT alone.  We have a God who “is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18), and who promises that even in the darkest valley, He will be right by our side to comfort and guide us… (Psalm 23)

By the end of this devotional, my hope is that your heart will be encouraged to trust just a little more in the faithfulness and love of the God we serve.  In the meantime, as you face whatever you are having to face today, let me leave you with this simple truth:

Peace is not always a feeling, but it is a knowing.

It’s knowing that even if we don’t understand the “whys” behind what we’re going through right now, we do know that the God who holds the universe in His hands is good; He loves us and He’s in control.  He has promised never to leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5)… If you have nothing else to hold onto for hope today, hold onto that. He is by your side and He cares. 

Scriptures: 1 John 3:1, Psalms 32:7-8, Luke 15:20, Psalms 103:13, Psalms 103:1, Psalms 86:15

“Right here, when I just can’t understand
I’ll lift my hands”

When I was a child, anytime I was scared, got hurt, or didn’t understand something, I’d run to my parents because I knew I was safe there.  I trusted that they were in control, loved me, and would hold me through whatever I was facing. Even if things were still scary, my heart could rest, knowing that I could trust the arms holding me.  

This is exactly how God wants us to look at Him.  Psalm 103:13 says, “The Lord is like a father to His children, tender and compassionate to those who fear Him.”  Just like a good earthly father, He wants you to run to him with any fear or burden so He can give you peace.

Maybe you didn’t have parents like mine who helped you understand God’s love at an early age… If that’s the case, let me describe the kind of love the Father has for YOU, His precious child. 

His love is unconditional… You can’t lose it, no matter how badly you mess up (Psalm 103:1). 

His love is patient and kind… He doesn’t get angry at you or annoyed when you have questions (Psalm 86:15).

His love cares…  He knows the storm you’re going through isn’t forever.  He even knows the redemption and good He can bring from it, and yet, He hurts when you hurt.  He wants you to come to Him with every unattractive, honest emotion… and like a good Father, He wants to pull you close and comfort you.

His love is like no other love on this earth… and you can trust it.

You wouldn’t be reading this if you weren’t walking through something difficult… and honestly, I wouldn’t have written the song, “Hallelujah Even Here,” if I hadn’t been walking through something difficult… but, God brought beauty out of my valley, and He’ll do the same for you.  I want to encourage you to lift your hands today.  Lift them in worship because of who God is, even here.  But also, lift your hands to a Father who loves you and wants to hold you close as He leads you through whatever you’re facing.  He’s already written the end of your story, and you do win in the end… In the meantime, you can trust the Man who died for you.  

Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 1:3-5, Romans 8:28, Psalms 119:50, Psalms 27:13-14, Acts 16:9-34

“Somehow, I bow, and my heart gets free
Too far, too hard becomes so easy…
I find peace here in surrendering.”

There’s a story in Acts 16 that is incredible… Paul and Silas are traveling and sharing the gospel, and God gives Paul a vision of a man asking for help in Macedonia.  So, they obey and head to Macedonia just to be thrown into prison after they get there.  At this point, I feel like I’d be having a serious heart-to-heart with God about why in the world He’d ask me to go somewhere just to have me beaten and imprisoned.  But, thankfully, Paul and Silas knew enough about God’s character that even this couldn’t shake their faith. In fact, they decide they want to spend their night in jail worshiping God!  Verse 25 says, “About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; and suddenly there came a great earthquake… immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.”  

When the prison guard sees what’s happened, he freaks out and is about to commit suicide, but before he can, Paul stops him and assures him that no prisoners have escaped.  The guard is so amazed that he literally approaches Paul and says “I want what you have!” Fast forward, and the guard and his entire family are saved and baptized.

Okay, that’s a powerful story.

We can read it and see that God had an awesome plan in store from the beginning, but imagine what Paul and Silas must have thought?  They couldn’t see the big picture. They could only see what was right in front of them, which was an absolutely hopeless situation.  They didn’t understand every element of their broken circumstance, yet they chose to worship God for who they knew Him to be, even in the midst of a cold, dark prison. And that choice made all the difference, not only for them, but for many others whose lives were now eternally changed!   

Whatever you’re walking through right now may seem so hopeless and confusing, but we serve the same God that Paul and Silas did, and He sees the BIG picture.  What the enemy means for evil, God will always work together for good. (Romans 8:28)

Someday, you may look back on this season and see that He was not only bringing you closer to Him, but was also preparing you to impact others in a way that you couldn’t have unless you had walked through this very trial. I know it may be hard to see, and that’s okay. What seems too hard to us is so easy to God!  My prayer today is that both you and I choose faith over feeling as we lift our hands in worship in the midst of the darkness!  He is able to bring beauty out of breaking, even here.

Scriptures: John 3:16, 1 Peter 5:7, John 16:33, Proverbs 3:5-6, Matthew 26:36-46

“Sometimes nothing left to give
Becomes the sweetest offering…
And sometimes choosing just to sing
Is the thing that changes everything.”

There’s a scene in Matthew 26 that just wrecks me.

Jesus is in the garden, experiencing deep anguish as He prepares to go to the cross.  He has given 32 years of ministry, miracles, teaching, and time to the world He came to save, and now all that’s left is for Him to give up Himself.  From a spectators view, it may seem like He should have been ready to do this since this was the whole point of Him coming to Earth. But although He was God incarnate, the human part of Him still felt all of the pain and anxiety and fear that any of us would have felt in His shoes.  

Think of the darkest, lowest place you’ve ever been mentally, and then multiply it by a thousand; that’s about where Jesus was.  The stress of the moment was so heavy that He was literally sweating tears of blood. In Matthew 26, after He told His disciples that His soul was “grieved to the point of death,” verse 39 says, “He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.’”  What Jesus was about to face was not just a valley; it wasn’t even just death. He was about to bear the burden of every sin known to man.  He was about to face the most painful beating, the most excruciating death, and the greatest loneliness that anyone ever could or would feel for all eternity. That’s what Jesus signed up for in order to save us.  

Knowing His purpose, yet overwhelmed by the task at hand, He asks “if…”

“If possible, could we change the plan, Dad?”

“Could we rewrite the story to end differently?”

Then, he says, “Yet…”

“Yet not as I will, but as You will.”

Jesus, who knew the Father’s loving heart more than anyone possibly could, trusted Him so much, that even in the depths of despair, He chose His Father’s plan above all else. All He had to give was Himself. And that offering would give eternal hope to all.  

Imagine if—in that moment—He had chosen to allow the painful task at hand to make Him run away from His Father.  Death would be the end for all of us.  There would be no happy ending.  But the hero of the story trusted in God’s will and chose to worship Him with His final breath. And that made all the difference.  If Jesus—knowing the heart of God better than any—could choose to face the death He did because He trusted the Father… how much more can we trust Him with whatever we are facing right now?  Not only because He is trustworthy, but also because He has promised never to leave us or forsake us.

I’ll say it again my friends: we can trust the Man who died for us. 

Scriptures: Isaiah 43:2, Matthew 8:24-27, Psalms 56:8-11, John 14:27, Romans 8:18, Revelation 21:4

“Hallelujah, when the storm is relentless
Hallelujah, when the battle is endless
In the middle of the in between
In the middle of the questioning
Over every worry, every fear…
Hallelujah Even Here.”

Look, I know there are some valleys and storms that cannot be fixed by reading a five-day devotional. And that’s okay.  We live in a broken world; and until the enemy is locked up for good, we are going to face trials.  But if this week has taught you anything, I hope it’s the fact that you will never face those trials alone.  God loves you more than you could fathom and He’s proven it.  When the enemy tried to steal your life, Jesus stepped in and gave His instead.  Because of that, our hope is eternal and our suffering is temporary.  We can know “that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18), and that someday, our loving Father will wipe away every tear from our eyes (Revelation 21:4). 

As you continue on your journey, I want to encourage you to look at David and how he handled suffering.  This was the guy known as “a man after God’s own heart,” loved and blessed by God. But if you read his Psalms, you see him face some seriously dark seasons, including depression, doubt, failure, loss, etc.  

What I love about him is that he knew where to run when those seasons came.  He ran to His Father—sometimes crying, sometimes angry, sometimes confused, but more often than not, he ended his prayers by reminding himself of truth (even when he didn’t feel it) and choosing to put his trust in a God that he knew loved him…  

In the days ahead, I encourage you to read Psalms and learn to cry out to God like David did. Grab a journal and write down who you know God to be and how He has been faithful in the past, and when you feel overwhelmed by what you see around you, look up.  Miracles still happen when we fix our eyes on our Savior and lift our hands in the midst of the storm.

He is worthy of our Hallelujah… Even here.