Sanctuary

by: Michael Alfred Tan
Highbeam

here i am...
still longing for Your promised peace
that surpasses understanding
'cause i need salvation from my despair
i've been carrying my burdens for so long

i awake...
body trembling,
with tears on my pillow
and fear in my heart
'cause i feel
You don't hear my voice anymore

**
don't withhold Your hand,
come quickly Lord,
i need Thee

chorus1:
You are my Sanctuary
my Stronghold, never failing
my Fortress, Deliverer
in You i find my peace...

i guess i may not understand Your answers
for Your ways are higher than mine
and so are Your thoughts..
incomprehensible

**
Lord forgive me for doubting You
come quickly Lord, i need Thee

chorus1chorus2
You are my Sanctuary
my Stronghold, never fading
my Fortress in times of trouble
in You i find my peace..
in You i find my peace... always

***

Dad sang this song last Sunday during the Anniversary concert. I was transported back in time when it ministered to me last year, when I was in Pampanga, distressed with my situtation.

I didn't want to be there. It was beyond my imagination that my first job would be in the province away from my life in Manila. I didn't want to live there either, life there was for me, plain and simpl. Everyday was a struggle to finish the day.

But God gave me this song during one of those crying nights. He taught me His sovereignty over my life. He's my master therefore I should obey (with cheerfulness).

God wanted to saturate me with His presence. He started purging out my pride, my self-sufficiency and everything that keeps me away from His presence. And then He filled me with praises and joy in the quietness of farms and sunsets.

God's sanctuary doesn't just reside in the church nor in the campus ministry that I dearly love,not just with my family or christian friends...

God's sanctuary is in every place He wants me to be...

... in the center of His will.

And that is where I found peace.

***

I was caught by the cords of death; the snares of Sheol had seized me; I felt agony and dread.
Then I called on the name of the LORD, "O LORD, save my life!"
Gracious is the LORD and just; yes, our God is merciful.
The LORD protects the simple; I was helpless, but God saved me.

Return, my soul, to your rest; the LORD has been good to you.

For my soul has been freed from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
I shall walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

Psalm 116:2-3