Heart Tracks - The Lord Who BurstsThrough

So David went to Baal-perazim and defeated the Philistines there. "The LORD did it!" David exclaimed. "He burst through my enemies like a raging flood!" So he named that place Baal-perazim (which means "the Lord who bursts through").....2 Samuel 5:20 "Like waking up from the longest dream, how real it seemed, until Your love broke through...I've been lost in a fantasy, that blinded me, until Your love broke through" Keith Green

The lyrics to to the Keith Green song "Your Love Broke Through" have always held deep and precious meaning to me. I've always seen them as a true testimony to my life. How, in the midst of the mess that was my life, and all the darkness and sin that came with it, His love broke through to me. Even today, all these years later, the life I lived then was like one walking and living in a dreamworld. I was another person, living in another world. All that seemed so real and valuable to me then, is so unreal and useless to me now. His love broke through to me, and I will never cease to filled with gratitude that in the darkness of my life then, His love and light pierced it all, and brought me into His life. Best of all, my life since then has been an ongoing witness to the wonder of His love, time and again bursting through all the circumstances, even the darkest, and proving that even in the worst, most unimaginable places, His love will break through.

Green's lyrics speak of waking up from the longest dream. Sometimes those dreams can be nightmares, and endless ones. I know something of those nightmares. Twenty seven years ago, with the loss of my marriage and ministry, I began a journey through what would be a day by day nightmare. Though still a young man, I felt my future was lost. I had no idea what would become of me, let alone where I would live and what I would do. All I could see on my horizon was an endless unknown... and fear. All I could do was literally live one day at a time, one step at a time, and so many days, I was sure I lacked the strength for another day, another step. Yet somehow, though I could not really discern it at the time, His love broke through the fear, the unknown, and another day was lived out, another step taken. Time and again, when I was at my lowest, He came with His greatest, and I found that, yes, I could go on. I had no idea where I was going to, but in His grace and strength, I went. And all along the journey, in so many ways, His love broke through, encouraging me, promising me, this was not where my life would end. This was not a place where He would leave me. I would know the fullness of His life again. Indeed, I would know it then. And I did.

Pain, heartache, sorrow, yes, they were present with me every day. Yet in the midst of them, His love would burst through, again and again, and day by day, step by step, the road grew brighter, the load lighter. The enemy shouted in my ear that the place I found myself would be the place where I perished, but He would whisper again and again, "I know the plans I have for you." And I was assured that it was a "good" plan, and He would get me there. The Lord who bursts through would break through to me, again and again, and always at the perfect time and place.

In a fallen world, "nightmares" are often a part of our lives. We all enter into them at some point. Maybe you're in the midst of one right now. Can you believe that the Lord who bursts through will burst through to you with all the power of His love? In His strength, keep on walking,step by step, day by day. Where you are is not where you will stay. He has much more for you than this. Whether you are in a place as a result of your own choices, or by the actions of another, if you will look up to Him, and not at the ground of your circumstances, you will see the One who loves you, and who will break through all the darkness, problems, and impossibilities, to you.

In August of 1989, I could fit everything I owned in a small compact car. I drove out of the town I had pastored in with no idea of where I was going. My worst nightmare had happened to me, yet at its worst, it could not keep Him or His love out. He rebuilt my life, and truly restored all the years that the locusts had eaten. I could never have envisioned how He has worked, but on every step of the way, His love burst through to me. It will for you too. It is bursting through to you right now. Keep on walking, keep on trusting. His love will never cease to break through. His love will get you home.

Blessings,
Pastor O