The Shelter of His Presence

Anybody out there feel like praying for me this morning? A particularly nasty stomach virus had its way with me this weekend and I am not perking back up the way I planned to be by today. YUCK!!

I love how precious God is when we're not feeling good. He speaks His word so sweetly . . . so gently . . . as if to say, "It's okay - just snuggle up and sleep and let these words wrap themselves around your spirit." And somehow His words do just that, don't they? They wrap themselves around you like a warm blanket and bring with them the comfort and shelter of His presence.

This morning I read/prayed Psalm 31. When I got to verse 7 and read to the Lord:

I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,

because you have seen my affliction;

you have known the distress of my soul,

and you have not delivered me into the

hand of the enemy;

you have set my feet in a broad place.

I was not thinking of my current little viral "affliction" and the distress it is causing my stomach. Instead, my thoughts went immediately to the affliction of my wilderness exile in the past. I sometimes fear that I refer to that time in my life too frequently . . . that people will tire of hearing me mention it. But because it consumed my life for such a lengthy period of time and colored my world with such darkness, my heart is continually overwhelmed with gratitude for God's great work of deliverance from it. When I read scriptures like the one above, everything in me cries out with thanksgiving to the One Who loves me and gave Himself for me. The One saw my affliction and did NOT deliver me into the hand of the enemy but, instead, has set my feet in a broad and spacious place. A place where He is my refuge from every storm. A place where I am sheltered by His presence. A place that is filled with His light and the multi hued colors of His creation. I rejoice in His steadfast love! He makes me GLAD - even when I feel "bad".

Eugene Peterson words it this way: "it is as if we were running from a cave full of snarling beasts into a wide, lush pasture where the open air and the wide horizon bring the exclamation, O how abundant is your goodness!"

Blessed be the Lord,

for he has wondrously shown his

steadfast love to me. (v.21)

I read these words from an old hymn (by Elizabeth Clephane):

"Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand -

the shadow of a mighty Rock within a weary land;

a home within the wilderness,

a rest upon the way,

from the burning the noontide heat,

and the burden of the day."

A home within the wilderness . . . What a wonderful truth!! Though there were times that the darkness of my wilderness was so dense - so prevailing - that I could not see God, He was there. He never left me, nor forsook me. He provided a home for my wounded spirit and applied the Balm of Gilead to ease my pain. He gave me rest along the way! Oh how grateful I am for the shelter of His presence . . . for the shadow of a mighty Rock within a weary land.

I trust in you, O Lord;

I say, "You are my God." (v.14)