Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint.
Preserve my life from dread of the enemy.
Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the throng of evildoers. (Vs. 1-2)
Hear my voice. Even when I complain. Please, God. There is so much to talk with my Father about. Sickness, death, broken homes, finances, loss.....What if He weren't listening? Of course, there are some who say He isn't, but they don't know our God. They haven't experienced the joy of answered prayer. Or when He doesn't answer the way I want, the joy of knowing my Father is always right. Always looking out for me. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ( I Thessalonians 5)
When we were first married, Bill and I were driving on a busy street when a small white poodle ran out into the pathway before us. "Oh, Jesus, help it be okay!" I cried. Alas, it was not okay and was struck by the car ahead of us. Bill thought it was strange that I subsequently cried over the death of a dog I didn't know. Or that I prayed for it as it ran to its death. We had one of those newlywed talks. You know...this is how I am, live with it kind of thing. God didn't care that much about the dog, Bill surmised. I thought He did. But the dog died. So, maybe not. What Bill came to understand, though, in our conversation, was that bringing the peril of the poodle to my Father's attention gave me hope. Praying about everything...all the time. This running conversation with Abba. Okay, so the dog didn't make it. But I actually ran over a big bull dog some months later who rolled out from under the car and ran home. See? We pray about everything because we know He hears -- more importantly, cares. Doesn't always go our way.
Preserve my life from dread. Dread: To shrink or recoil from, view with horror or alarm, be in great fear. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear....we love because He first loved us. (I John 4) I think this is a toughie. Dread pervades our society. Even today before the presidential election tomorrow. What will happen to us if our candidate does or doesn't win? In the financial climate of our world today, we fear there won't be enough for us. Disease could be treacherously lurking in our bodies. Those who hate us could lash out. On and on it goes. But those who truly know they are loved by the Father will not fear because we belong to Him. Abba takes good care of His children in this life and beyond. God is sovereign in prescience and in power. So if we know He loved us first, and proved it, we have nothing to fear. Not even the valley of the shadow of death. The last great enemy. I have been praying for this kind of love daily for several years now because I know the hold fear can have on me. Understand my propensity for looking at the situation and assessing it to be the worst case scenario. Like Shadrach, Meshach and Abenego, Someone walks around with me even in the fire. I am deeply loved. So why then, would I not be as powerfully cared for?
Hide me from the wicked. From evil and those who would draw me into it. When I was six I remember playing hide-n-seek with the neighborhood kids one day. I found the perfect spot underneath the window of our neighbor's house. The window was nearly obscured by a large bush. Sweat poured from my little body as I breathlessly pushed the landscaping aside and nestled into my lair. Only thing is, I awoke a bee hive which had decided to nest there first. Boy they were mad! Buzzing and stinging me all over my chest. I totally blew my cover as I went running from the bushes, screaming my little head off. My skin was ablaze with burning bumps. While Mother plastered a baking soda pumice all over my upper torso, all I could think was: "Boy, I sure found the wrong hiding place." Oops. Not the last time I did that, either.....hid in the wrong shelter, I mean. It matters where we find safety. Don't want to discover we have gone for refuge to the wicked instead of from them. It's okay to hide, by the way. Sometimes we are called to box a few rounds, but there are other times when we know we are not going to win by ourselves. We need shelter while the Father takes on evil. We belong to Him. Christ's prayer for believers before He died was that the Father keep us from the evil one. (John 17) Just like the kid who says: "My daddy is bigger than your daddy!" we know that is true of Abba. Don't mess with His children. He is jealous over us. The enemy will see. God won then and wins again each time we run under His wing, out of breath and fearful, trusting His love to save us.
Doesn't it all really come down to knowing we are His Beloved? Free to tell Him anything -- to be our true selves in His presence. Knowing He isn't listening in order to judge us guilty, but to hear us out. To guide us into wisdom as gently as we allow Him to. Free from the fear of what man can do to us, we don't languish in the horrifying scenarios presented to us. And if we find ourselves trapped in a holocaust, we will not be alone. Abba walks in the fire with us. Why? Love. I know it's hard sometimes to see how a loving God could allow some of the things we experience here. How loved ones could die. How famine, floods and wars never seem to cease. Our world is definitely fallen. But this is not our home. We aren't any more comfortable here than our Savior was. We were made for more. And more awaits.....gloriously more. What we need in the moment, our Father generously provides. Whether it is some earthly thing like money or a more spiritual thing like the faith to endure another day. It is today that our God wants us to walk hand in hand with Him, trusting that all we need for tomorrow will come from the One Who loved us first.
Preserve my life from dread of the enemy.
Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the throng of evildoers. (Vs. 1-2)
Hear my voice. Even when I complain. Please, God. There is so much to talk with my Father about. Sickness, death, broken homes, finances, loss.....What if He weren't listening? Of course, there are some who say He isn't, but they don't know our God. They haven't experienced the joy of answered prayer. Or when He doesn't answer the way I want, the joy of knowing my Father is always right. Always looking out for me. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ( I Thessalonians 5)
When we were first married, Bill and I were driving on a busy street when a small white poodle ran out into the pathway before us. "Oh, Jesus, help it be okay!" I cried. Alas, it was not okay and was struck by the car ahead of us. Bill thought it was strange that I subsequently cried over the death of a dog I didn't know. Or that I prayed for it as it ran to its death. We had one of those newlywed talks. You know...this is how I am, live with it kind of thing. God didn't care that much about the dog, Bill surmised. I thought He did. But the dog died. So, maybe not. What Bill came to understand, though, in our conversation, was that bringing the peril of the poodle to my Father's attention gave me hope. Praying about everything...all the time. This running conversation with Abba. Okay, so the dog didn't make it. But I actually ran over a big bull dog some months later who rolled out from under the car and ran home. See? We pray about everything because we know He hears -- more importantly, cares. Doesn't always go our way.
Preserve my life from dread. Dread: To shrink or recoil from, view with horror or alarm, be in great fear. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear....we love because He first loved us. (I John 4) I think this is a toughie. Dread pervades our society. Even today before the presidential election tomorrow. What will happen to us if our candidate does or doesn't win? In the financial climate of our world today, we fear there won't be enough for us. Disease could be treacherously lurking in our bodies. Those who hate us could lash out. On and on it goes. But those who truly know they are loved by the Father will not fear because we belong to Him. Abba takes good care of His children in this life and beyond. God is sovereign in prescience and in power. So if we know He loved us first, and proved it, we have nothing to fear. Not even the valley of the shadow of death. The last great enemy. I have been praying for this kind of love daily for several years now because I know the hold fear can have on me. Understand my propensity for looking at the situation and assessing it to be the worst case scenario. Like Shadrach, Meshach and Abenego, Someone walks around with me even in the fire. I am deeply loved. So why then, would I not be as powerfully cared for?
Hide me from the wicked. From evil and those who would draw me into it. When I was six I remember playing hide-n-seek with the neighborhood kids one day. I found the perfect spot underneath the window of our neighbor's house. The window was nearly obscured by a large bush. Sweat poured from my little body as I breathlessly pushed the landscaping aside and nestled into my lair. Only thing is, I awoke a bee hive which had decided to nest there first. Boy they were mad! Buzzing and stinging me all over my chest. I totally blew my cover as I went running from the bushes, screaming my little head off. My skin was ablaze with burning bumps. While Mother plastered a baking soda pumice all over my upper torso, all I could think was: "Boy, I sure found the wrong hiding place." Oops. Not the last time I did that, either.....hid in the wrong shelter, I mean. It matters where we find safety. Don't want to discover we have gone for refuge to the wicked instead of from them. It's okay to hide, by the way. Sometimes we are called to box a few rounds, but there are other times when we know we are not going to win by ourselves. We need shelter while the Father takes on evil. We belong to Him. Christ's prayer for believers before He died was that the Father keep us from the evil one. (John 17) Just like the kid who says: "My daddy is bigger than your daddy!" we know that is true of Abba. Don't mess with His children. He is jealous over us. The enemy will see. God won then and wins again each time we run under His wing, out of breath and fearful, trusting His love to save us.
Doesn't it all really come down to knowing we are His Beloved? Free to tell Him anything -- to be our true selves in His presence. Knowing He isn't listening in order to judge us guilty, but to hear us out. To guide us into wisdom as gently as we allow Him to. Free from the fear of what man can do to us, we don't languish in the horrifying scenarios presented to us. And if we find ourselves trapped in a holocaust, we will not be alone. Abba walks in the fire with us. Why? Love. I know it's hard sometimes to see how a loving God could allow some of the things we experience here. How loved ones could die. How famine, floods and wars never seem to cease. Our world is definitely fallen. But this is not our home. We aren't any more comfortable here than our Savior was. We were made for more. And more awaits.....gloriously more. What we need in the moment, our Father generously provides. Whether it is some earthly thing like money or a more spiritual thing like the faith to endure another day. It is today that our God wants us to walk hand in hand with Him, trusting that all we need for tomorrow will come from the One Who loved us first.
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