A frog in your throat

Have you ever had something happen to you that was so incredibly hurtful and sad that you couldn't pray or lift your voice in worship?

You have a "frog" in your throat. A lump so big it seemed like you could never speak again.

I have.

Maybe you have too.

One day there were two guys who had left Jerusalem on Easter morning, downcast and depressed because they only information they had was that Jesus was dead.

They were not in an emotional state to sing, much less sing a "new song" to the Lord. The Bible says in Luke 24:17 that when Jesus came to them unrecognized, "they stood still, their faces downcast."

The reality of the death of Jesus had blown them away. They still loved Jesus, but their hope in Him was nuked, as indicated by their past tense statement in verse 21, "but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel."

The only thing is - they were talking to Jesus himself!

When we are walking through despair and a discouraging time, even when we don't feel like it - Jesus is there!

Karl Barth, the famous theologian, was on a streetcar one day in Basel, Switzerland, where he lectured. A tourist to the city climbed on and sat down next to Barth. The two men started chatting with each other. "Are you new to the city?" Barth inquired. "Yes," said the tourist. "Is there anything you would particularly like to see in this city?" asked Barth. "Yes," he said, "I'd love to meet the famous theologian Karl Barth. Do you know him?"

Barth replied, "Well as a matter of fact, I do. I give him a shave every morning." The tourist got off the streetcar quite delighted. He went back to his hotel saying to himself, "I met Karl Barth's barber today."

Each Christian is a temple of the Holy Spirit, a person in whom Christ actually dwells. But how often do we fail to recognize that we have been in the presence of God himself.

Like the two men, have you lost hope? It's easy to do.

Changes in life can cause us to lose hope. Downturns in the economy can cause us to lose hope. Death. Divorce. Separation.

Has a difficult experience torn apart your expectation of good things, but not your love for God?

Psalms 98 helps us with this. This psalm ask you to "sing to the Lord a new song," in verse 1.

Psalms 98 reads:

1 Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done marvelous things;
his right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.

2 The LORD has made his salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations.

3 He has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to the house of Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.

4 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;

5 make music to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,

6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn—
shout for joy before the LORD, the King.

7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.

8 Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy;

9 let them sing before the LORD,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples with equity.

If you have allowed bitterness, resentment, self-pity, or blame into your spirit so that there's a frog in your throat keeping you from singing this psalm, the same risen Jesus who appeared to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus desires to come to you today and open your heart to recognize his presence in your life.

The same risen Jesus can give you hope once again and clear out the lump in your throat and allow you sing "sing a new song"!

Jesus is alive and in control.