Shadow of the Almighty

Darkness, death, fear, cancer and miscarriage – these words were swarming through my mind over the last week and even last night. Friends and family who are walking through the valley of the shadow of death and who are living in fear of what is next. I see staff who have buried more family members than I think I even have, one right after another. I hold children who do not know the love of a mother or father. My heart is full of heartbreak for these losses. Sin is such a horrible and wicked reality.

Now, I need to lean on my Father. I need to trust that He knows what He is doing and that His plan will bring perfection at the right time. Maybe some of these losses are better to be faced now, than what would have happened in the future. I just don't know. It does not make walking through today any easier for everyone who is hurting though.

As I tried to fall asleep with all these thought on my mind, God began stirring my thoughts. The Holy Spirit brought to my mind some new thoughts. Why am I afraid? Why don’t I have faith that things will work out? Then the first few verses from Psalm 91 played over my mind:

91 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
² I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”

³ Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler^[a]
And from the perilous pestilence.
⁴ He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
⁵ You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.

 

I need to sit under the wings of my Heavenly Father. Sin and darkness are all around and it is not an actual war that I can see, but it is a spiritual war. I still feel a heaviness inside my heart, but I am looking up and I am trusting God because He is my refuge and my fortress.  He will cover my family, friends, and our staff and children at BG. He will cover me when I am tempted to worry or despair.