Camp Songs, Hardship, & Heroes of the Faith

One  of the highlights of my childhood was attending summer camp each year. I mean, what kid doesn’t love ziplines and waterslides, canoes and campfires? One of my personal favorite parts about Sky Ranch, the Christian camp I went to in East Texas, was the time of praise and worship that happened every day at lunch. The songs were unlike the old-school hymns I sang with my family at church; they were modern and upbeat and were accompanied by fun choreography that I still remember, over two decades later.

One song, the specific version of which I haven’t heard since, was simply called “Psalm 61.” The lyrics are straight from King David’s quill (or reed… (what did people write with back then??).

O God, hear my cry,

Listen to my prayer

From the ends of the earth

I will cry out to you

When my heart is overwhelmed

Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I [At this point in the song, we would all lift our hands and jump twice, shouting, “Higher! Higher!”]

For you have been

A refuge to me

A strong tower

From the enemy

Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I.

Looking back, it’s funny to me that many of the camp and youth group songs I sang as a kid, scriptural as they were, were often jazzed up, adorned with catchy beats, fast melodies, and lively dance moves, as if to make their biblical messages more attractive to us young people. It was as if someone had taken the clever idea of hiding vegetables in a sauce or stew, rather than serving them plainly to children, and applied it to worship music.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with taking what was doubtless once a somber, reverent, slow-paced psalm and tweaking it for kids, but I realize now that the meaning of the songs, such as the one above, was often lost, at least on me, in the excitement of the jumping, shouting, and dancing we all did as the worship leaders sang and played their instruments. I had no idea back then that twenty plus years later, I’d recall the songs, choreography and all, and consider the lyrics with newfound appreciation.

I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up, I had very few cares or concerns. At least, not any serious ones. I was healthy. My parents were married and happy. I had dogs, horses even. I went to a great school, had lots of friends. I played sports and got good grades. Suffice it to say, my heart was never “overwhelmed,” save for the oh so earthshattering occasions when my friends and I quarreled or I knocked over a barrel while barrel racing atop my beautiful Arabian, Babydoll. Unlike King David, I didn’t have an enemy, the fear of whom brought me to my knees before God.

But now I’m 35. I’ve had my fair share of grief and pain and heartache, as I’m sure you have. And as I look out into the world, I am struck by the brazenness and pride of our enemy, the Prince of Darkness, as he and his armies of evildoers spread like cancer throughout the world’s governments, corporations…even its schools and churches.

And as I pore over the prophecies within God’s Word, I am reminded that the proliferation of sin and lawlessness and the unbridled abhorrence of God’s Light was foretold millennia ago by dozens of godly people who, by the way, were very unpopular to those to whom they preached and wrote.

I read about men and women who were persecuted for their faith, whose hearts broke over the evil and injustice running rampant in their cities and nations, and I, for the first time in my life, am beginning to understand, however slightly, what they felt. I am singing along with David, “lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”

I need God to be my rock, because the sandy foundations of this world’s systems are crumbling all around us.

I need him to be my refuge, because all around his children lurk wolves and prowling lions, “seeking whom [they] may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

I need him to be my strong tower, because he is the only true source of safety, security, and soundness of mind.

I watched a J.D. Farag sermon recently, and he read this verse from Ecclesiastes:

“Enjoy prosperity while you can,

but when hard times strike,

realize that both come from God.

Remember that nothing is certain in this life.” – Ecclesiastes 7:14

Pastor Farag pointed out that “hard times” are not an if, but a when. Indeed, Jesus himself said “in this world, you will have trouble” (John 16:33), and as Ecclesiastes informs us, both trouble and prosperity are appointed by Almighty God.

Not only does the verse in Ecclesiastes bring God’s sovereignty into sharp focus, but also his wisdom and love for us, because it is the ever changing, ever unpredictable nature of this earthly life that helps us lean and rely upon him for every imaginable need.

The exceedingly wise King Solomon said that it is actually beneficial for us to be, by God’s grace, neither exorbitantly wealthy nor destitute:

“Give me neither poverty nor riches—
Feed me with the food allotted to me;
Lest I be full and deny You,
And say, “Who is the Lord?”
Or lest I be poor and steal,
And profane the name of my God.” – Proverbs 30:8-9

There was a time in my life I would absolutely define as “prosperous.” A time without worry, lack, severe pestilence, wars, or “rumors of wars.”[1] I prayed for those I knew who were hurting and sick and in need, but, if I was being honest with myself, I didn’t feel the desperate, soul-deep need for the Lord that was inarguably possessed by the biblical servants and people of faith I read and heard about. Heroes like Stephen the Martyr, Saint Peter and Saint Paul, William Tyndale, Florence Nightingale, Susan B. Anthony, Charlotte “Lottie” Moon, Sojourner Truth, Amy Carmichael, Corrie ten Boom, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Jim Elliot were people I admired, but their level of faith was never something I considered needing as a 21st-century American.

Now please don’t get me wrong. I am by no means in need, at least not materially; unlike much of the world, I have plenty of food, clean drinking water, a lovely home, a reliable vehicle, two loyal giant schnauzers, etc., but I, along with many other Christ followers I know, have felt a substantial shift in the spiritual atmosphere over the last few years, one that is troubling, if not downright terrifying, as we see “hard times” crashing through the cozy bubbles of our cushy Christian lives.

It’s time for us to not just read about people of faith, but to lay hold of their faith for ourselves, and to rebuke even the slimmest shadows of fear and dread that slither across our paths.

It’s time to put our beliefs into action by completely trusting God’s plan for us, both as individuals and as the body of Christ, and know without question that he was, is, and forever will be our invincible tower, impenetrable refuge, and everlasting rock.

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” – Corrie ten Boom

[1] Matthew 24:6