This isn’t a pause or a passing-through. We need to consciously live… abide… dwell… in His shelter.
It requires gratitude, confidence in God, hope and trust in Him. It enables us to bring Him our needs as a child to a loving parent: with assurance that He listens, loves and knows best.
God who loves us and who is our Good Shepherd, help us live in Your shelter. Your power is great and You are all wise. Teach us who You are, so we can trust You more. Help us rest in Your care.
Lord, through all the generations
you have been our home! Psalm 90:1, NLT*
My Bible labels this psalm “a prayer of Moses, the man of God.” Moses, who led the Israelites out of slavery to wander in the wilderness en route to the Promised Land.
These people had no geographical home, but God’s presence led them day and night. God spoke to them. God defeated their enemies and provided food and water in the desert. He even kept their shoes from wearing out from all the walking.
Circumstances may have made it easier for Moses to see God as his home, but even though I have a warm, snug, physical home I share with a loving family, God is my deeper home.
Creator and Sustainer God, I praise You that You never change. Thank You for being my home in the emotional and spiritual sense, my heart’s home, my security and stability, where I can rest and thrive and shelter.
∞
This week’s song is a mainstream love song that doesn’t totally translate as a worship song, but it captures the depth of “home” that our God is for us: Billy Joel’s “You’re My Home.”
…they did not believe God
or trust him to care for them. Psalm 78:22, NLT*
The Psalmist is reviewing Israel’s history, as a parable to teach the people. He looks at what God did on the journey out of Egypt and until the time of King David, and he looks at how the people repeatedly rebelled, “stubbornly tested God” and complained.
All God wanted them to do was believe, trust and obey Him. You’d think He gave enough proof of His power and love that they could discern the pattern: God was leading, and He would meet their needs.
In these verses, they’d complained that God could give them water but couldn’t feed them. He proved them wrong, and it wasn’t pretty. (See verses 23-31)
They had a cloud leading them, and they saw God’s miracles. Christians today have the Holy Spirit leading from within us, and we sometimes see His miracles too. If we pay attention, we see His touch on our lives. But these verses remind me how important it is to stop, look and listen for God, and to deliberately trust Him. It’s how we’re designed to live.
Holy and powerful God, how much easier it would have been for the Israelites if they’d been able to believe and to trust in You. You know our weaknesses, and that we’re no stronger today than they were. Please give us faith to believe You, and help us choose to trust You.
Because you are my helper,
I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings.
I cling to you;
your strong right hand holds me securely. Psalm 63:7-8, NLT*
I’ve been reading this psalm daily for a few weeks now, and although it’s short, it’s powerful. David is longing for God, and he’s aware of his enemies pressing in, yet the verses overflow with words like praise and joy and sing. He has his faith perspective in place.
I know about pressing through in prayer, bringing God our fears and troubles. Leaving those troubles with Him. Praying until it becomes about Him rather than about us. Until we’re worshipping. Praising.
I don’t do it nearly as often as I should.
That’s what David’s doing here. He hasn’t forgotten the desert or his enemies’ plots. He’s not denying or ignoring them.
But he sees God. He knows God is enough.
He’s not perching timidly in the shadow of God’s wings, trembling in that strong hand because the danger might snatch him away. He has no thought that God might drop him or fail to protect him.
Our God, You are strong and mighty to save. You are our strong tower, our refuge, our shelter and our Defender. You are our Good Shepherd. We know the words, but so often we don’t act like we believe them. We run to You and keep watching our troubles as if they might break through Your defenses. Faith tells us that can’t happen. Help us listen and be confident in You.
∞
The classic Newsboys worship song, “Strong Tower,” is a good confidence-builder.
You satisfy me more than the richest feast.
I will praise you with songs of joy.
. . .
Because you are my helper,
I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 63:5,7 NLT*
Joy has been scarce in my heart lately, and I’ve felt more like David’s “parched and weary land.”
These two verses from Psalm 63 are my antidote, if I can let my mind and spirit truly believe them.
God satisfies. He is enough, and abundantly more than enough. That negates the joy-drain of discontent. I need to practice intentional gratitude, not just for His gifts but for who He is.
That truth eliminates anxiety, if I really believe it.
God who is all that I need, I believe. Help my unbelief.Help me realize, accept and rely on the truth of who You are and what that means in my life. Help me live confident and secure in You, aware of the many ways You satisfy and delight.
∞
God used the Newsboys’ song, “The Letter,” to challenge me about believing what He says.
For you have rescued me from death;
you have kept my feet from slipping.
So now I can walk in your presence, O God,
in your life-giving light. Psalm 56:13, NLT*
In this psalm David declares his trust in God and praises God for His promise. Twice he asks “What can men do to me?”
The first time, he follows with a list of what his enemies want to do to him. The danger is real. He asks God to prevent them from harming him. He reminds himself of how intimately God cares for him, and then he reaffirms his choice to trust in God.
Three times in the psalm, he praises God for “His promise” and I think that’s the promise that David would be king. At this point he’s still on the run from King Saul and is in the hands of the Philistines.
Logic and faith say he can’t be killed before God accomplishes His purpose, so David has confidence that his enemies won’t be allowed to kill him.
Most of us don’t have a specific, personal promise from God guaranteeing we won’t be harmed. We do have lots of promises, though. And if we don’t have physical enemies, we still have spiritual ones that would bind or hamper us and keep us from the life God promises.
One of the “enemies” stalking me is anxiety. Today’s verse is one I’m using as a prayer-promise. Another is “who the Son sets free is free indeed.”
Father, Saviour, show us the individual promises to cling to for protection from the unseen forces, thoughts and behaviour patterns that want to deny the new life You’ve promised to grow in us. Yes, they could do it – if not for Your promises. Help us be confident in You, help us walk in Your presence and in Your life-giving light.
But I am like an olive tree, thriving in the house of God.
I will always trust in God’s unfailing love. Psalm 52:8, NLT*
This verse sounds like a prayer. It’s not how I am, but it’s how I want to be.
To thrive… when I feel God’s presence I feel my soul thriving.
To trust… when I think of trusting in God’s love, I think security, soul-rest in Him, confidence, necessarily in the physical sense but definitely in the spiritual.
Sometimes we have to trust Him in the darkness. We can choose to trust that He is still nurturing us.
Creator and Sustainer God, plant me like an olive tree in Your presence, so that I can’t wander away from You. Help me always trust and remember Your unfailing love, so I can thrive in Your care.
∞
Here’s one of my favourite classic Newsboys songs: “Thrive”.
The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarrelled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”
Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?” Exodus 17:2, NIV*
God had already given them a daily supply of manna in the desert. Now He patiently—and miraculously—provided water from a rock.
And he called the place Massah [testing] and Meribah [quarrelling] because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD among us or not? Exodus 17:7, NIV*
The Israelites knew, better than we often do, that if God is present He can help. And they weren’t subject to our common fear that we’ve already asked too much and used up His gifts for us.
I think they feared abandonment. “If trouble hits, does that mean He left us?”
They knew they had nothing in themselves to convince Him to stay. They didn’t think about His character that keeps Him faithful to His commitments. Of His covenant that they would be His people and He would be their God.
We often need to be reminded of the same thing. As we persist in prayer, the proper attitude is not to nag for answers but to pray continually in thanksgiving and confidence, and keep alert to recognize the answers… especially if they come in small stages.
Father God, help me remember that You’re leading me. Help me trust Your character and Your promises and rely on You. Whatever my needs, I have Jesus. All I have to do is ask for help and be alert to recognize the answer. I understand it may well not come in the form I’d like, but I pray with confidence in Your perfect wisdom and timing.
Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendour of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:
“Give thanks to the LORD,
for his love endures forever.”
As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. 2 Chronicles 20:21b-22, NIV*
Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. … You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give…. (2 Chronicles 20:15b, 17a, NIV*)
I love this story. Jehoshaphat led the army out with praise, trusting God to keep His promise.
We don’t often know when a crisis is approaching, and even then God rarely tells us what He’s going to do and how it’ll turn out. But we can know He’s always with us, at work and in control.
What if we went into each day, each situation, with praise going ahead of us? Expecting to see God working, even when we don’t know how or where?
As Violet Nesdoly said recently at Other Food: Daily Devos, “let’s position ourselves under the spout of God’s blessing … no matter what our situation looks like on the outside.” (see the full post: “God’s Blessings, Man’s Defraudings”)
God promised to never leave nor forsake us. We can go forward in confident praise and trust that He’s working—whether we see it or not doesn’t change the fact of His active presence.
I suspect that, in the looking, we might be more likely to see Him at work and to respond with gratitude.
God who saves and shepherds us, help me rely on Your grace and power. Whether I see trouble approaching or think I’m safe, help me remember that You are with me. Help me trust Your plan. Train my spirit to step out in praise and to recognize and give thanks for Your touch.
∞
Here’s Don Francisco’s song about Jehoshaphat. You can take the catchy praise chorus into your day and be blessed.
Why do we get so caught up in wanting it both ways? We long for closeness with God, but at the same time we want to be powerful enough to handle things on our own.
We’re not God, we can’t do it all, and in the grand scheme of things we’re pretty insignificant. But He loves us. And He cares for us. And He works His strength through us for far greater impact than if it came from us.
Dependence on Him doesn’t diminish us. It completes us and lets us live in close relationship with the One who embraces us as His sons and daughters.
Father God, help me quiet myself in Your care. Help me remember to live in confidence in You instead of wanting to put confidence in myself. Help me delight in what You’re doing.
