No Monsters

O God, sometimes You seem too far away.
I cannot in this moment sense Your presence
or feel Your power.
Know what I can feel, though? I can feel satan hovering over me - just waiting and watching for a weak moment to attack. I don't like those times. Not a bit.

The darkness enveloping me is stifling.
It is stifling, the darkness I mean. Things that aren't scary in the light are big and scary at night. Shadows, just like a young child, become monsters that wait to jump out and say BOO just when you least expect it.
This depression is suffocating.
I can't breathe. I'm waiting for the next attack. I know it will come. I'm sure of it. It's just a matter of when.
How long, O God, do I have to live in this void?
O God, how long?
When will the next bad happen? When will you intervene? When will you bring light into this stifling darkness?

Break into this black night, O God;
fill in this vast emptiness.
Enter into my conflict
lest I fall, never to rise again.
"Don't want no monsters in my house tonight
Don't want no monsters in my house
You won't get me screamin', you're nothing but a demon
It's time for you to go now."

I continue to trust in Your ever-present love.
I shall again discover true joy
in my relationship with You.
I will proclaim Your praises, my Lord.
for You will never let me go.
"I am a temple of the Holy Ghost
And I'm protected by the Lord of Hosts
Get out in the name of Jesus Christ
'Cause I don't want no monsters in my house tonight."

I'm tired of the monsters lurking under my bed. I remember being at a slumber party with a friend. We shared her twin bed. We didn't dare dangle our legs because we knew what would happen. We were in high school at that time. We knew it wasn't true - there were no monsters under the bed waiting to grab our legs and eat us for a midnight snack - yet... we did believe. Just in case. Mustn't be too careful, you know.

We have real monsters lurking. They are insecurity, bad health, fear of the future... I could go on and on but I don't need to. I almost picked out the Veggie Tales song, God is Bigger than the Boogie Man but opted for Carman instead. Veggie Tales are cute but Carman has the real answer no matter what the fear:

"I am a temple of the Holy Ghost
And I'm protected by the Lord of Hosts
Get out in the name of Jesus Christ
'Cause I don't want no monsters in my house tonight!"

Nope, no monsters tonight. Praying everyone sleeps deep and hands over their many cares to God who watches over us even when the Boogie Man attempts to say BOO in the night.

(Psalm 13 from Psalm/Now)
(Carman - No Monsters)