Altar Call – Opelika-Auburn News

Walter Albritton

July 21, 2013

There are times when we all cry “Lord, I cannot”

My wife Dean introduced me to an old song that is new to me. The words and music were written by Jane LaRowe. I am learning it because I want to store it in my heart and sing it now and then.

Jane and I have become good friends through her song. Her words speak to my heart. Though I have never seen her I have spoken out loud to her. I said “Thank you Jane for touching my heart with your beautiful song.” I think I heard her say “You are welcome.”

Each of the four verses of Jane’s song pictures an impossible situation about which Jane cries, “Lord, I cannot.” There is a valley that is too deep, a mountain that is too high and a river that is too wide. And there is a pathway that she must travel alone.

Most of us have faced maddening times when in despair we cried out with Jane, “Lord, I cannot.” There was a crisis we could not face, a problem we could not solve, a cruelty we could not endure. But about the time we were ready to jump off the nearest bridge and end it all, the Lord stepped in and helped us.

A popular chorus puts it this way: “He will make a way where there is no way.” That’s what Jane affirms in her song – that when you are at the end of your rope with nowhere to turn, the Lord comes to our rescue. And, praise God, he does just that!

Jane says that with the presence of the Lord she is able to walk through that deep valley “in His footsteps.” He gives her “quiet strength” to scale the heights of that high mountain. On her lonely pathway she hears the Lord’s voice and rejoices as he comes alongside her. And she gets across that wide river because he “takes her by the hand.”

Life is a constant struggle, one fight after another. Just when you think you can relax and take it easy, calamity strikes again. But evidently that is God’s game plan. He is not trying to make us “happy.” He wants us to learn to depend on him so he can make us strong with character that glorifies him.

So here is my tip for the day: The next time misfortune makes you cry, “Lord, I cannot,” hang in there. Don’t up. Trust the Lord who loves you and believe with Jane LaRowe that with the Lord’s help you can cross that deep valley and make it to the other side. + + +