Every now and then I get struck by an article by Max Lucado. Here's one:
“He will shield you with his wings. He will shelter you with his feathers.” (Psalm 91:4)
My college friends and I barely escaped a West Texas storm before it pummeled the park where we were spending a Saturday afternoon. As we were leaving, my buddy brought the car to a sudden stop and gestured to a tender sight on the ground. A mother bird sat exposed to the rain, her wing extended over her baby who had fallen out of the nest. The fierce storm prohibited her from returning to the tree, so she covered her child until the wind passed.
From how many winds is God protecting you? His wing, at this moment, shields you. A slanderous critic heading toward your desk is interrupted by a phone call. A burglar en route to your house has a flat tire. A drunk driver runs out of gas before your car passes his. God, your guardian, protects you from
“every trap” {Ps. 91:3};
“the fatal plague” {Ps. 91:3};
“the plague that stalks in darkness” {Ps. 91:6};
“the terrors of the night…the dangers of the day” {Ps. 91:5}.
One translation boldly promises: “Nothing bad will happen to you” {Ps. 91:10 NCV}.
“Then why does it?” someone erupts. “Explain my job transfer. Or the bum who called himself my dad. Or the death of our child.” If God is our guardian, why do bad things happen to us?
Have they? Have bad things really happened to you? You and God may have different definitions for the word bad.
God views your life the way you view a movie after you’ve read the book. When something bad happens, you feel the air sucked out of the theater. Everyone else gasps at the crisis on the screen. Not you. Why? You’ve read the book. You know how the good guy gets out of the tight spot. God views your life with the same confidence. He’s not only read your story…he wrote it. His perspective is different, and his purpose is clear.
God uses struggles to toughen our spiritual skin.
Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. {James 1:2–4}
Trust him. “But when I am afraid, I put my trust in you” {Ps. 56:3}. Join with Isaiah, who resolved, “I will trust in him and not be afraid” {Isa. 12:2}.
God is directing your steps and delighting in every detail of your life {Ps. 37:23–24}. In fact, that’s his car pulling over to the side of the road. That’s God opening the door. And that’s you climbing into the passenger seat.
There now, don’t you feel safer knowing he is in control?
From Come Thirsty© (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) Max Lucado
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