If you want some more music to keep you in the holiday spirit, you might enjoy this music video "Maoz tzur-Oh mighty Stronghold." A boy is walking home and finds a note on his door. After reading, it he goes inside, lights the Hanukkah candles, and starts to sing. Others come to join him singing, and someone even brings snacks. Soon there are decorations and festivities like spinning the dreidel, and dancing. You might really like to see this video and share with others.
It is sung in Hebrew, but it also includes English and Hebrew subtitles, if you would like have those as well. The lyrics tell about the great miracle that we celebrate during Hanukkah. The song also asks for the restoration of the House of prayer where we will bring an offering of thanksgiving when the Lord removes oppressors. This song reminds us to look to God as our stronghold and to take delight in praising him.
It is easy to get discouraged when faced with various problems in life because it can sometimes seem like we won’t be able to make it through. In times like this, it is important to encourage ourselves and keep our spirits up. We can find hope by looking back at the hard times we survived, thanks to our Stronghold.
Sometimes, in fact many times, the answer to a situation may not be what we expected. But even when the solution might not seem like a solution at the time, later we can see how God still worked things out. Thinking of all the other hard times we made it through can be very helpful as a way to cope in the present.
However, there may be times when looking back at our personal lives isn't hopeful or helpful because the past can be very complicated and we can't predict the future. But even in these cases, we can have faith and find encouragement by looking at what God has done for others. We can see that -- even though others have also gone through hard times -- the Lord was able to work things out for them. And the same God that helped others can help us as well. That is one of the many things we can learn from this song.
