(photo credit: teachtheyoungerwomen.wordpress.com)
"Mercy. May Your mercy come to me, O God, for my soul is safe within You, the guardian of my life. I will seek protection in the shade of Your wings until the destruction has passed." (Psalm 57:1, The Voice)
That is a comforting thought, isn't it: that we have a safe place to go until the storms of life pass by? This is one of those tender pictures of God that we find in Scripture: that of a mother bird nestling her chicks under her wings. Sometimes I hold into that image and imagine myself huddling in safety next to God, holding onto Him to, as the old song says, "keep me safe 'till the storm passes by."
But doesn't it seem that sometimes the storms just keep coming one after another? It's like we are living in a spiritual tornado alley. And often it may seem to us that God's wings of protection are hard to find. Could it be that He has a purpose for the storms He sometimes allows us to experience?
Maybe that's the kind of thing the apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote these words:
"We are cracked and chipped from our afflictions on all sides, but we are not crushed by them. We are bewildered at times, but we do not give in to despair. We are persecuted, but we have not been abandoned. We have been knocked down, but we are not destroyed. We always carry around in our bodies the reality of the brutal death and suffering of Jesus. As a result, His resurrection life rises and reveals its wondrous power in our bodies as well. For while we live, we are constantly handed over to death on account of Jesus so that His life may be revealed even in our mortal bodies of flesh." (2 Corinthians 4:8-11, The Voice)
Did you catch that: "so that His life may be reveled even in our mortal bodies of flesh"?
God's purpose for us is not that we would be safe, though at times He spreads His wings over us that we might rest in Him. His ultimate purpose for us is that we might bring glory to Him by revealing the character of Jesus.
Question: Are you in a storm right now? How will you allow the life of Christ to be revealed even in your storm?
Leave a comment below. I'd love to hear your perspective.
I am always reminded of the words in Hebrews 5. It seems God teaches us through suffering. Some reject this notion but I don't see how it can be denied. When we begin to walk we must face falling, It is just a fact of this life. If we can learn to embrace this Truth then we can face the next step with more boldness knowing that we have learned from each fall and that God has ordained running for our future.
ReplyDeleteGreat point, Jon! I love the imagery, my friend.
DeleteThis reminds me of a quote by Gordon Hugenberger:
ReplyDelete"Jesus is out for bigger game than your happiness, he's working on your holiness.... Faith is not learned, as we would like, in a seminary, or a spiritual retreat, or even in a sermon; its only learned in the fiery furnace of trial and hardship."
Thanks for sharing that quote, Pam. My brother-in-law used to be a ski instructor. He said, "If you're not falling, you're not learning."
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