I’m sitting in my basement (on the couch with my roomie) watching the latest round of severe storms causing all sorts of damage across the Kansas plains. Because I’m just sitting here, I decided to write the devo for Monday morning. I’m so very thankful for my basement and my house, solid, safe places to go when the storms of the Kansas spring are too much to handle.
I know I’ve posted about this before, but it’s something that I was thinking about–having a shelter in the storm. Everybody needs one. Nobody is tough enough to fight off a tornado. I mean, you can try, but you probably won’t accomplish much.
Clouds on the Kansas prairie at Safe Haven Farm, Haven, KS
Today’s verses are Psalm 91:9-13.
If you make the Lord your refuge,
if you make the Most High your shelter,
no evil will conquer you;
no plague will come near your home.
For he will order his angels
to protect you wherever you go.
They will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
You will trample upon lions and cobras;
you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!
It’s just something that’s good to remember, especially when you’re in the midst of a storm. But what does it mean to make God your refuge? What does it mean to make Him your shelter? How can you do that?
I like to think I’m a fairly practical person, so just saying to make God your shelter doesn’t sound very useful. When I think of shelter, I think of basement, of solid, concrete, tangible protection that keeps out the wind and rain. And God isn’t really something that we can experience on that level.
Well, think about it. When you’re in a shelter–a basement or a safe room or whatever–what are you doing? You’re waiting for the storm to pass, right? But in relation to your shelter, you’re trusting that shelter to keep you safe. You trust your safety to that shelter, trusting it’s been built strong enough, trusting it will protect you.
How is that different from how God protects us? At least, that’s the way it should work.
God will keep us safe, although He may not do it the way we expect Him to. But He does. What I had to learn is that He’s less concerned with our physical wellbeing than our spiritual health, because it’s our eternal destination that matters more.
But whether you’re facing health issues or mental issues or financial issues or spiritual issues, God offers to be our shelter, our trusted place of refuge, and all we have to do is trust Him.
But basements or storm shelters don’t do you much good if you don’t use them. You still have to make the choice to get in your shelter when a storm is coming if you want it to protect you. So why do we think that God is any different?
We have to trust Him. We have to choose to take refuge in Him and not in our own abilities or strengths.
So whatever you’re facing today, remember that you don’t have to face it alone. And you don’t have to be vulnerable. God has offered to protect us. We just have to take shelter when He tells us.
Always Peachy 