HE ALONE--MY ROCK

"Saddlerock"--the most famous rock above my valley.
It reminds me of the desolate terrain where David hid.

The contemporary worship song “In Christ Alone” has been been wafting through my mind lately. Here's an online presentation to bring it to mind, if you're not familiar with it: Bing Videos* (full link below).

The most recent “come-to-mind” occasion surfaced as I read Psalm 62, which Bible scholars think may have been related to David's unsought “alone” time in the desert during his son Absalom's attempt to usurp the throne.

My soul finds rest in God alone, My salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken.(vv. 1-2)

The next verses talk about enemies who want to topple a man. Surely this fit the situation of a king being pushed from his throne. But David, in his “aloneness,” found the holy aspect of “alone” in making God alone his hope:

Find rest O my soul, in God alone; my hope is from him, He alone is my rock and my salvation, He is my mighty rock, my refuge, I trust in him at all times, O people; Pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. (vv. 5-8)

Quiz time: go through this psalm and mark every time the words “only” and “alone” are mentioned. There are times when worship communities or “small groups”--as good as they are in spiritual nurture--aren't enough to get us close to God's heart. He often speaks in the quiet, silent pauses. Surely that was the case of the Old Testament prophet Elijah, who ran for his life from a treacherous royal couple, ending up in a desolate place. There, alone, cut off from human contact, he waited for God's next nudge. And waited. Finally came that holy moment, after a mysterious spiritual pause in ministry, when God revealed the prophet's next task (1 Kings 16-17).

This Bible story grips me, because I'm prone to believe the cliché, “If it's supposed to be, it's up to me.” But when I shift the emphasis to “in Christ alone,” I learn to seek His path. I learn God is in the pauses as well as the actions. Instead of charging down an unknown path, I go forward carefully, keeping my eyes on Him, “the Author and Perfecter of Faith.”

Jesus was never in a hurry. He included solitude and silence—rest in the Father--in His daily rhythms. For get-it-done personalities like mine, such reminders are important—no, more than that, absolutely necessary—to keep focused on His unfolding will for my life.

Video link: 

https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=%22In+thee+alone%22%2Bhymn&mid=537489326122024E7DC5537489326122024E7DC5&FORM=VIRE

REFUGE (Psalm 91)

(Part of an ongoing series on the 48 psalms recommended for study during times of depression by counselor/pastor David Seamands, author of Healing for Damaged Emotions.)

When a wildlife education group brought these critters to our county fair, I was grateful for their cages! But “safety” is not always a given, as the author expressed in Psalm 91. The author is unnamed, but besides the natural threats of the wilderness, he apparently lived under the constant threat of human enemies. His solution: abiding under the “shadow of the Almighty” (v. 1) amidst the very real dangers he faced. The assurances that God is my refuge and fortress, worthy of trust (v. 2), are the stakes that affix this psalm to my heart.

There are lessons in every verse, but one image has become especially poignant for me in recent years:

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge. (v. 4)

The initial picture this presents, of course, is a hen gathering her chicks under her for safety. Jesus drew on this image when He lamented Jerusalem’s (and the world’s) spiritual issues:

Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. (Matthew 23:37, also Luke 13:38)

PROTECTED

What doesn’t come across in English translations—and this is where I think it most deeply can reach the heart of a disheartened person—is the powerful word in Hebrew for “wings”—kanaph. It’s prominent in the book of Ruth, who was the great grandmother of King David. Whether or not he wrote the psalm, it still intensifies the hope that rides above the dark images of danger.

Ruth, of course, was the Moabite widow who came back to Jerusalem with her glum, widowed mother-in-law, Naomi. Their desert journey, fraught with dangers like many of those described in the psalm, took them to even more desolation as helpless, landless, starving women. But Ruth rolled up her sleeves and gleaned to help feed them. God was in the shadows in having her glean from the field of a distant relative, Boaz. When Boaz commended her work, he remarked:

May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings [kanaph]you have come to take refuge.(Ruth 2:12)

When Naomi heard of his favor toward Ruth, then connected the dots that he was a distant relative and marriageable, she saw a solution to their desperation. A marriage to Boaz would bring both of them under his protection. So Ruth went to threshing floor, where he slept during harvest, to encourage a “proposal.” It sounds strange to us, but remember, it’s not our culture.  Quietly, she uncovered his feet and lay down.

With his feet getting cold, Boaz woke and was shocked to see Ruth there. Ruth shared their need and how his being the “kinsman-redeemer” could help them. She added:

Spread the corner of your garment [that’s the “kanaph” part] over me. (Ruth 3:9)

He readily accepted her proposal, and set about to make it happen.

ENOUGH

There’s more—so much more—in this psalm, including prophecies about Jesus and Satan. But just the one idea of God as our protector carries immense comfort for those times when we feel down from all the negatives of life and troublesome people. When we have to go through trials, God promises to go through them with us (vv. 14-15). Even better, He can turn our sense of loss to a sense of victory:

With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation. (91:16)

This is not necessarily a formula for long life. Only God knows the length of our days. Psalm 90 emphasized that. Rather, I think it’s saying that “in the God-ordained fullness of our days” He will be all we need or want. And that is wonderful, encouraging news!

THEREFORE (Psalm 46)

Ordinary "buttes" like this one in central Washington would leave

 me breathless to climb. That's why Psalm46 and its image of
 mountains falling into the sea is so powerful!

(An ongoing series on the 48 psalms listed as "recommended reading" for times of depression, from counselor/pastor David Seamands' book Healing for Damaged Emotions.)

Whenever I run across the word “therefore” in scripture, I’ve learned to pause and ask, “What is it there for?” Typically this adjective means “consequently, for that reason, because of that, to that end.” In Psalm 46, it links God’s sufficiency as our refuge, strength, and help when our world is falling apart.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

And the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

Though its waters roar and foam

And the mountains quake with its surging. (vv. 1-3)

For years while reading this psalm, I’d find myself humming the tune to Martin Luther’s hymn, “A Mighty Fortress,” based on it. He had composed it while his own life was in danger from religious leaders. When Luther felt discouraged or depressed, he’d ask his co-worker Philipp Melanchthon to sing this hymn with him. Its sturdy, confident lyrics (so blunt and strong in the original German) would lift him spiritually.

IT’S STILL RELEVANT

Fast-forward five centuries from Luther. Four passenger planes hijacked by terrorists plunge into landmark high-rise business buildings in New York, the Pentagon in the nation’s capital, and a farm field, missing its presumed target of the White House. Nearly 3,000 are killed, 6,000 injured. Damage estimates are ten billion dollars. Stunned by this sick enemy attack, a reeling nation looked to an aging spiritual leader, Billy Graham, then 83. From the podium at the National Cathedral three days after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, he brought the timeless message of Psalm 46.  His points:

*This event was a reminder of the mystery and reality of evil.  God is not the author of evil.

*This event showed us our need for each other.

*This event can give a message of hope for the present and the future as it shows our nation how much we need a spiritual renewal and hope for this life, and the life to come, in Heaven for those who believe in Christ.

HISTORY REPEATED

The history woven into Psalm 46 most likely is when the Assyrians lay siege against Jerusalem during the reign of Hezekiah (725-696 B.C.). Verse 4 (“a river whose streams make glad the city of God”) probably infers Hezekiah’s public works project of an underground channel that brought water under Jerusalem’s walls (2 Kings 20:20). That pool inside the city sustained it during a long siege. The end of verse 5, “God will help her at break of day,” sounds like 2 Kings 19:35-36, when, overnight, a mysterious illness (“the angel of the Lord,” v. 35) killed thousands of enemy soldiers. The enemy king lived, but he high-tailed it out of there for safety at his palace in Assyria. Imagine having today’s on-the-spot news coverage of such events! Yet in the midst of these scary, bewildering threats to Jerusalem, God was there.

REFUGE AND STRENGTH

Therefore…as the psalm’s refrain reminds us, “The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”  Jacob was the rascal who deceived his twin Esau out of the birthright.  He was the schemer who deserved retribution and punishment.  But God saw bigger things for Jacob and broke his stubborn spirit. He was renamed “Israel,” prince.

Verse 1 says God is our refuge and strength. The concluding verse says the “LORD Almighty is with us.”  What better hope for when we’re under spiritual attack—or even the real physical attack masterminded by the forces of evil? Verse 10 reinforces that message for scary and depressing times: “Be still, and know that I am God.” Therefore, when I’m troubled, scared, or depressed, He is my refuge and strength, my ever present help in trouble, the only true place of safety.

Interested in another study I did on Psalm 46? Go to my blog for April 25, 2014:
http://jeannezornes.blogspot.com/2014/04/making-psense-of-psalms-psalm-46.html 

"Dwelling Places"--a taste. PLUS contest for free book

You'll want to read my friend's newest book
alongside your Bible.

Yesterday I shared the background of a new book by my writer/speaker friend Lucinda Secrest McDowell, titled Dwelling Places. Here's a taste from her book, a chapter called "That Time a Nest was my Refuge."

I awaken to the sound of heavy rain encompassing me. This second floor sleeping porch contains one piece of furniture – a King sized bed surrounded on three sides by floor to ceiling windows, setting me high amongst the trees.

Sliding down into the soft sheets, I pull up the covers, thankful for my cozy refuge from the outside world. Nothing, it seems, can touch me here.

For the first time in my life, I have the sensation of being in a nest, dwelling in the shelter of God’s wings.

And I remember that in the original language of the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for “to dwell” is sometimes translated as “to nest.”

“He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge.” (Psalm 91.3-4) I recall how baby chicks rush under the mother hen at the first sign or sound of danger. Because she holds them tightly, they can nestle into a sense of safety and security.

I believe this is exactly how God wants me to feel about Him — my true Refuge.

Nesting in my bed, I recall reading a favorite book to my precious grandgirl- “Are You My Mother?” by P.D. Eastman. The story is simple but it cleverly reinforces the sheltering refuge of the home nest to those who are lost and wandering. In that story, after asking every creature she encounters, “Are you my mother?” the baby bird finally ends up safely back in the nest only to realize that her mother is the one who nourishes her and shelters her.

So often I relate to the psalmist’s yearnings, “I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.”  (Psalm 61:4) David wants God to be his forever nest. He’s had enough of running and hiding and maneuvering and outwitting. He just wants to snuggle under those wings and be safe.

Is this the longing of your soul as well?

If so, all you have to do is call upon the name of the Lord. And that’s pretty simple. It can even sound something like “God, are you there?” or “Dear God, help me.” Or you could just groan and He will understand.

Hannah Whitall Smith discovered this the hard way when tragedy came. “The secret of His presence is a more secure refuge than a thousand Gibraltars. I do not mean that no trials come. They may come in abundance, but they cannot penetrate into that sanctuary of the soul, and we may dwell in perfect peace even in the midst of life’s fiercest storms.”

It’s time to stop asking everyone you meet some version of “Are you my refuge?”

And start dwelling –nesting – under the shelter of the One who knows you best and loves you most.

©2016 Lucinda Secrest McDowell Excerpted from “Dwelling Places” by Lucinda Secrest McDowell (Abingdon Press)

 

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