Psalm 55:4-8
4 My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death have fallen on me.
5 Fear and trembling have beset me;
horror has overwhelmed me.
6 I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
7 I would flee far away
and stay in the desert;
8 I would hurry to my place of shelter,
far from the tempest and storm.”
As I was trying to look up another scripture, I ended up in Psalm 55 instead of where I was trying to go. I am glad I had the incorrect scripture because I needed to read Psalm 55.
As I was reading the above verses, my mind went a lot of different directions. I know in my life I have had events happen that made me want to escape. I just wanted to get away from everything. Other, smaller incidents, had me looking for shelter in the wrong places. I am an emotional eater and when I am needing comfort or shelter, I turn to food. Other people may turn to alcohol, drugs, TV, sex, etc. A couple of years ago, Kevin and I bought a home and property that has become a type of shelter for us lately. Having stuff to do on our property has kept our sanity the last couple of weeks.
Many Americans subscribe to a survivalist or prepper mentality. A prepper is a person who takes measures in advance to ensure the economic, physical and emotional well-being of their family during times of struggle. They have their shelter ready to go when times get bad. I realized I had not done enough prepping to make sure I remembered the shelter of God was within arms reach all the time. I realized I needed to pray more, read the bible more, seek discipling more, so that when things get bad, all I have to do is call on God and I am in his shelter. Reaching for the bag of cookies, a glass of wine, going for a walk, or talking to friends are not bad things but they will not put me in the shelter of God. Those things will not bring me the same type of peace that the shelter of God can.
The shelter of God is there for us all the time. We may have strayed, wandered far from its opening, lost sight of that shelter, misplaced the map to the shelter, lost the GPS coordinates, been too prideful to ask for directions, but it is still there for us if we are willing to look. Psalm 55:16 says “As for me, I call to God, and the Lord saves me. In verse 22 it says that the Lord will sustain me if I cast my cares on him. The right kind of shelter can save our lives and sustain them until the storm passes. When the storms of life hit, I hope to see you in that shelter with me.
If you are feeling like you are caught up in a storm and can’t find shelter, please reach out to someone. Phyllis, Michelle, Angela, Patty, and I are here for you. We will do our best to help you find that shelter in God and if we can’t then we will help you find someone who can.