1. Bill Withers’s song, LEAN ON ME made a huge impression on me growing up in the 1970s; I loved the melody but gave scant regard to the lyrics. I recently came across the lyrics and saw things differently, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I UNDERSTOOD as a child, I THOUGHT AS A CHILD: but when I became a man, I PUT AWAY CHILDISH THINGS” [1 Corinthians 13:11] I saw in the lyrics of Bill Withers song the universal nature of PAIN and SORROW; you and I need SOMEBODY TO LEAN ON in this dting world and that person is Jesus Christ. I am aware MISERY came into the world through SIN and nature subverted with a CURSE, “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: CURSED IS THE GROUND for thy sake; IN SORROW shalt thou eat of it ALL THE DAYS OF THY LIFE” [Genesis 3:17] PAIN and SORROW are without boundaries in this world, the RICH are not exempt or the mighty delivered by reason of strength. I don’t know what Bill Withers was passing through when he wrote his famous song, the situation is worse today as the world passes through unprecedented instabilities with PAIN a fixture on every face, “Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I SEE EVERY MAN WITH HIS HANDS ON HIS LOINS, as a woman in travail, and ALL FACES ARE TURNED TO PALENESS?” [Jeremiah 30:6]
2. When Bill Withers wrote LEAN ON ME, I am sure he was not under illusion he could eliminate global burden of PAIN; it is beyond the effort of any man to do so. Those who run to men for succour from vicissitudes of this world are not wise; the one you ran to is part of the problem and cannot be the solution, “Thus saith the LORD; CURSED be the man that TRUSTETH IN MAN, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD” [Jeremiah 17:5] When afflictions become unbearable and it seems God is so far away, not a few turn to their possessions for DEFENCE. More often than not, the Bible is cited erroneously in favour of MONEY, “For WISDOM IS A DEFENCE, and MONEY IS A DEFENCE: but the EXCELLENCY of knowledge is, that WISDOM GIVETH LIFE to them that have it” [Ecclesiastics 7:12] MONEY surely is useful but not as a pillar to LEAN ON, it lacks the EXCELLENCY of WISDOM of God. After many decades of welfare payments as well as best practices in social and health engineering, the richest and most powerful nations failed to eradicate poverty, sickness, crime, war and social disorder. Notwithstanding, multitudes place their hope in election cycles, trusting in the electoral process to throw up a messiah. Take note, man’s rebellion against God is the root of MISERY, it is impossible for governments of men, by men and for men to eradicate it, therefore “TRUST IN THE LORD with all thine heart; and LEAN NOT UNTO THINE OWN UNDERSTANDING. In all thy ways ACKNOWLEDGE HIM, and he shall direct thy paths” [Proverbs 3:5-6]
3. Bill Withers was right, WE ALL NEED SOMEBODY TO LEAN ON but that SOMEBODY has to be free of SIN and a man like you and I to SHARE our LOAD. Angels of God satisfied the first condition, having no SIN but ousted by the second for not being flesh and blood. The only way put was for God to present Himself frame of man, “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of FLESH and BLOOD, HE ALSO HIMSELF likewise TOOK PART OF THE SAME; that THROUGH DEATH he might DESTROY HIM THAT HAD THE POWER OF DEATH, that is, the DEVIL” [Hebrews 2:14] Diverse PAINS and SORROWS are symptoms of DEATH, the one who works them is the DEVIL. Whereas man is enslaved to the DEVIL through SIN, aging, sickness, terror, wars, poverty, etc., are workings of DEATH in this body. At the appointed time, God was manifest in Jesus Christ to give His LIFE in ransom for ours, “… For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the GRACE OF GOD, and the GIFT BY GRACE, which is by ONE MAN, JESUS CHRIST, hath abounded unto many” [Romans 5:15] GRACE is God’s outstretched arm to reconcile us to Himself, that we should no longer be slaves to SIN and the POWER of DEATH, “To wit, that GOD WAS IN CHRIST, RECONCILING the WORLD UNTO HIMSELF, not imputing their trespasses unto them; …” [2 Corinthians 5:19] Jesus DIED for you, irrespective of race, gender or status and the worst offender is not exempted. LEAN ON ME, says the Lord, as many as are weary and overtaken by PAINS of living in a dying world, “COME UNTO ME, all ye that LABOUR and are HEAVY LADEN, and I WILL GIVE YOU REST” [Matthew 11:28]
4. Bill Withers found the ONE to LEAN ON under a streetlight in 1982 and LEANED on the Lord till he passed to glory in March 2020; I have his testimony, “When I decided under that streetlight to stop wrestling with Christ and all the questions, I stopped questioning how life just kind of sometimes happens” [A Night Under a Streetlight @ www.boundblessings.com] Friend, how I wish you DECIDE for Jesus today. It does not mean the storms and trials will not come but you will face them with confidence, not with pitiable questions. He will hold your hands in the midst of swirling tempests and His PEACE shall be your confidence, as it is written: “These things I have spoken unto you, that IN ME YE MIGHT HAVE PEACE. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD” [John 16:33] LEAN ON ME, says the Lord, you have no reason to fear what the world may throw at you. Jesus overcame the world on the Cross and ascended to heaven to prepare us an inheritance in glory, “LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED: ye believe in God, BELIEVE ALSO IN ME. … And if I go and PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that WHERE I AM, THERE YE MAY BE ALSO” [John 14:1-4]
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