There are two lines (well, every line) in Rich Mullins’ classic, “Step by Step,” that particularly resonate with depressed, melancholy Christians.
Of Abraham, he writes, “He was a stranger in this land.”
I think every melancholy, depressed Christian feels this.
Even if that land is our home. We still feel a stranger to every place we go. We still feel a stranger among friends. We still feel a stranger to everything familiar.
As Matt Bellamy sings, “Free me from this world…. I don’t belong here.”
That’s the way it’s felt my entire life.
And we’re not alone in feeling that. We have good company in our loneliness.
There was no one stranger to this world, nor more attached to it than Jesus, and thank God because he saved us from this one into a different one.
Mullins follows the feeling of strangeness with the only thing keeping the stranger from estrangement.
“O God, You are my God.”
I have never felt closer to home nor my calling in this world than when close with Christ.
“O God, you are my God.”
And because of that, we keep going, knowing he’s going with us.
Here are the lyrics, and Mullins, live, below.
“Step by Step,” Rich Mullins
Sometimes the night was beautiful
Sometimes the sky was so far away
Sometimes it seemed to stoop so close
You could touch it but your heart would break
Sometimes the morning came too soon
Sometimes the day could be so hot
There was so much work left to do
But so much You’d already done
O God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
O God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
And I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You’ll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days
Sometimes I think of Abraham
How one star he saw had been lit for me
He was a stranger in this land
And I am that, no less than he
And on this road to righteousness
Sometimes the climb can be so steep
I may falter in my steps
But never beyond Your reach
O God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
O God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step-by-step You’ll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days
[Picture: Uzak]
