Psalm 57:1-3
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
till the storms of destruction pass by.
I cry out to God Most High,
to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
He will send from heaven and save me;
he will put to shame him who tramples on me.
God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!
Last week we had a pretty bad storm, for about 3 hours. The wind was in a frenzy, rain was falling sideways, branches and debris were falling, and many of us had to hunker down for a sweaty night with no power. This was by no means some storm-of-the-century event, but it did cause a few problems and a respectable amount of distress.
Things feel weird when the power goes out. How many times did you walk into a room and reflexively reach for a light switch knowing full well it was going to do nothing? Most storms don’t cause any problems and the ones that do rarely rise above the level of minor annoyance: that thing I wanted to do/watch is cancelled, or my kids have to play inside all day. Every once in a while, though, the big storms hit.
Where do you turn when those storms, that are usually minor inconveniences, truly interrupt your life? Too often we see God as someone we turn to in case of emergency. We can be all too content to coast along until something goes wrong and we turn to Him and say, “why do all these bad things happen to me?” When the truth is, God wants to be with you in the good times and hard times.
We need to practice leaning into God in our wonderful days, so we know how to do it when the storms come. Let God be our refuge and our safe place. So, when the storms come, we know where to turn to for hope. We can turn to Him.
God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!