June 2, 2009
-
HE STOOD ME UP ON A SOLID ROCK ...
There are times when things feel a bit unsteady; when the earth quakes around your feet and everything in you wants to run away in panic ... even though there is nowhere to run. Your heart feels like it will beat out of your chest, your breathing quickens ... and your mind reels. You feel desperate to find a place where you can securely plant your feet but everywhere your feet land there seems to be a crack forming ... and you just might get sucked into one.
I don't know about you but ... I'm not really all that fond of times like these.
In truth, I don't even like roller coasters, or bungie jumping, or space needles. I don't like cliff diving, or sky diving, or that ride at Six Flags that takes you up in a little parachute and then drops you really fast. Nope ... I'm all about having my feet firmly on the ground ... steady ... secure; ducks in a row ... all planned out.
My world has started quaking again lately -- without warning ... without my permission. I had started feeling secure in my little world but now that feeling of panic threatens to take over.
When my world quakes ... my heart hurts.
When my world quakes ... I am filled with self-doubt.
When my world quakes ... my purpose is unclear.
When my world quakes ... I feel inadequate.
When my world quakes ... I feel vulnerable.
How I wish my world would offer me all those things I desire. But ... when I depend on my world to be those things for me, it always fails me, for God did not intend me to feel secure in my world. He only intended for me to feel secure in Him.
"For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock" Psalm 27:5 (NIV)
"He lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me from deep mud. He stood me up on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn't slip" Psalm 40:2 (The Message)
Having come from a long line of 'runners', when I feel unsteady, my natural instinct is to do just that; to run ... to feel fearful and hide. But God did not give me a spirit of timidity ... I am strong and secure. Not because of anything I have done, but because of what He has done and continues to do in me. When I am willing to hide in Him; to cry out to Him to keep me safe in the midst of my earthquakes, He sets me on a solid rock ... Himself ... and he holds me high above the destruction below me. He does not let me slip into the cracks. He alone is my refuge, my strong fortress to save me.
Today, my world is quaking pretty strongly. Things are beyond my control but they are not beyond His.
Therefore, I will trust in Him ... I will cry out to Him ... I will stand firmly on the Rock knowing I will not slip as long as He has me safe in the shelter of His tabernacle.
