EVIL: Lenten Photo Devotion Day 8

Lenten Photo Devotion: Day 8

EVIL

You who sit down in the High God’s presence, spend the night in Shaddai’s shadow, 

Say this: “God, you’re my refuge. I trust in you and I’m safe!” 

Yes, because God’s your refuge, the High God your very own home, 

Evil can’t get close to you, harm can’t get through the door. 

He ordered his angels to guard you wherever you go. 

If you stumble, they’ll catch you; their job is to keep you from falling. 

- Psalm 91:1-2, 9-12 [The Message]

Yes, I find myself amused by the most ordinary of things...like this sign I came across at a local park today - which in my mind implies that Hell has a welcome center (the arrow is pointed down after all - where else could it be directing us?)

Today I have been reflecting on two passages, the one above which was emailed to me early this morning and also the passage I am preaching on this Sunday (Luke 13:31-35). Both passages speak to God being our shelter and a place of protection from evil but in the Luke passage is it more of a lament as Jesus yearns to be that shelter and protection yet the children of God will not respond.

God is our refuge in times of trouble. This doesn't mean we are insulated from bad things but that we are given the sheltering arms of Christ to weather the bad things. I guess it is much like when my children were sick or hurt - I could not take the sick or hurt away but I could hold them, encourage them, love them and assure them that I was there for them no matter what. Jesus, even as a man with no children understood this - because he was also a man with a mother who no doubt had done those things for him. So in Luke's gospel Jesus speaks of his love for the world as a mother hen yearning to protect her chicks.

As you continue on your Lenten journey remember that while there is much evil in the world that threatens us (even throws up a welcome center in Hell to lure us in) we do have a shelter above...a Christ who yearns to cover us in his arms and keep us from falling.

EVIL

there is a shelter of protection

whose name is

Jesus

Songs Amidst the Thunder

I woke this morning to the sound of thunder (and yes I am hearing Bob Seger in my head as I type that line) and heavy rain. It is very hard to get out of bed on a morning like this and so I took the luxury of lingering there for a bit. I did not sleep, I just listened...and prayed...and listened some more.  I would like to say I heard God speaking to me and leading me toward some great epiphany...but I did not. I tried listening harder...I still heard nothing.  So I stopped listening...and oddly enough - that is when I started to hear.

I stopped being so intent on hearing God's voice and instead I just let the sounds around me begin to nurture me. The rolling thunder - this isn't a violent storm, it has the gentleness of a lover, the murmur of lovely words whispered adoringly in your ear.  The falling rain - mostly a steady heartbeat, sure, even, strong, never threatening. And then I hear the unexpected - birds singing joyfully! In the midst of a storm even the birds have found a song worth singing this morning.

It occurs to me that in church circles we often talk about the raging storms of life and how God is there to calm the seas and get us through - and this I believe to be true. But...it also occurs to me that sometimes the storms in life are gentle ones.  These calm and gentle storms are the hardest, for we don't always see the need to seek God and cling to him as we do when the storm is raging and violent. In the gentle storms we are lulled into a sense of peace that says, I've got this God - no need to busy yourself today.  And there we languish in our own sense of self control and assurance.

I've been in the midst of one of those calm storms for a while and today as I listen to the birds sing I am finding refuge and redemption in the midst of this storm. I have sought to put God back in his rightful place as Lord of my life and I have handed the reigns of control back over to him. I have found peace and comfort in his refuge. I have found redemption in his forgiveness.

Now I lay here, listening to the birds sing...we share joy. They say to me - sometimes a storm is just a storm - relax, listen and enjoy.