Whitney Houston: A Cautionary Tale

One of Whitney Houston's best projects (in my opinion) was The Preacher's Wife... Both film and record... I still have a most of the songs from that project on my iPod actually... And when I was listening to it at work the other day I couldn't help but hear a portion of the lyric in "I love the Lord" and think about Whitney's tragic life... Now, I'm not one to give sympathy away easily and I am one of those who believe, though it's sad, Whitney made her life's choices freely and knowing the road it could and most likely lead her down was dark and fearful... I can't help but wonder if before her final hours she ever thought of "I'll hasten to His throne..."

As I was contemplating the lyric as it related to her now life I realized although it's too late for Mrs. Houston there is a caution we need to head out of what has happened and this song...

"I love the the Lord, he heard my cry

And pitied every groan, long as I, I live

And troubles rise, I hasten to his throne...

Tears are streaming down my eyes

I'll hasten, I'll hasten to his throne

Yes I will, I'll run

I know I can go to his throne

I know I can go, I know I can go

I'll hasten, I'm gonna run

I know I can go, I know I can go

I'll hasten, I'll hasten to his throne

See I can run, Lord you know I will

When there is nowhere to go I know I can go to you

I know I can run to you oh

I'll hasten, I'll hasten to his, his throne

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

I'll hasten, hasten to his throne

Surely gonna be here..."

I do love the Lord and I hasten to His throne every chance I get... And therein lies the difference, every chance I get.  Although God is our helper, present in the time of trouble (Psalm 46:1) He is not only there for troubling time... Unfortunately, the human condition being such as it is, there are times we don't even know trouble is on the way, sometimes that trouble can cuts life short and if that's the case there would be no time to hasten to His throne before we reach His judgement seat... Then what is there left to say? "Sorry I haven't paid any attention to you lately, I didn't think there was any reason because there was no trouble..."

Another problem with hastening to the throne only in the time of trouble is we get less and less likely to hasten at all... We start thinking "Oh, God will be there when I need Him, I'll just live my life the way I want until then..." we take for granted the sacrifice for sin and allow our sins to pile up... We start thinking "this sin isn't that bad, God won't even notice it..." and because we've excused sin as being "Not that bad" we excuse repentance and go on living without God's approval over our lives (God and sin or light and darkness cannot co-exist therefore un-repented sin separates Him from us (1 John 1:5.)

Lastly, while we are waiting to hasten in the time of trouble we are creating our own obstacles... Piling sin upon sin, adding embarrassment and searing our own conscience to the effects of what we are pursuing.  If the time ever comes that we are ready to hasten to His throne we now hold ourselves back because of the embarrassment we've created, we now have an almost unbearable weight of baggage to bear and we've forgotten who we were created for "For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him" Colossians 1:6 and what we were created for "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" Ephesians 2:10,  "everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory..." Isiah 43:7.

So all in all what I am saying is don't only hasten to His throne in times of trouble... It may be too late then.  Hasten every chance you get, hasten in this moment, excuse yourself from where ever you are and find a place where you can be alone and just whisper something to God... Not long, drawn out or even loud, just a few words to reach out to Him in this moment.

Love you all,

Suzie-K