My favorite Christian singer of all time was Rich Mullins. There are a lot of Christian artists that I really enjoy, but he was my favorite. At a time when I was struggling with the faith and what it means to really be a Christian, the words of his songs really spoke to me and really drew me into a truer faith.

Today’s reading from Psalm 78 reminds me so much of one of his songs “Not as Strong as We Think We Are.” The mistake we can make as humans is that we can think we are so much stronger than we are. We can think we can do so much, we get so prideful and think more of ourselves than we ought. And then we mess up, we fall down, and we are reminded just how weak we are.

The Psalmist writes this:

37 Their heart was not steadfast toward him, *
and they were not faithful to his covenant.
38 But he was so merciful that he forgave their sins
and did not destroy them; *
many times he held back his anger
and did not permit his wrath to be roused.
39 For he remembered that they were but flesh, *
a breath that goes forth and does not return.

Man, I am so thankful for those words this morning.  The people’s hearts were not steadfast towards God. They turned away. They didn’t turn to Him. They didn’t seek Him. They chose their way over His way, their cravings and sin over what God wanted them to do.

And God was right to be angry with them. But, the text says, because of His mercy, He held back.

And remembered they are just flesh.

God knows we are not as strong as we think we are.  He knows we are weak and frail.  He knows we will get ourselves in trouble like lost sheep.

He knows that.

And loves us anyway.

In spite of all of our weakness.  All our frailty. All our faults. God knows. And He loves us.  In spite of ourselves.

He knows that we need Him for even our next breath. He knows we can’t do it without Him. He knows we bring nothing to the table for Him.

And He loves us.  Anyway.

Sometimes, all the time, really, we forget we are weak and frail. We are not as strong as we think we are.   We are not.

We really are not a big deal.  We really aren’t.

We are just a breath that will be gone someday.

And God still loves us!  In spite of what we’ve done, in spite of our frailty, we are loved. God knows we are weak. And He loves us.

Today, thankfully, we are not as strong as we think we. May we turn to Him. And in Him, we will find the strength we need. We can’t do it ourselves. Through Him, we can do all things.

Through Him.