A Gracefull Place

 

 

 

Psalm 18:2-3

"The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

 

 

"I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies."

 

 

I’ve said before that I don’t read a lot of the news, etc.   It’s not that I want to keep my head in the sand, but you can get your focus off Him and onto "the troubled sea around you" and sink–really fast!!!

 

 

Many of the things I have seen in the past week are cause for "wild alarms", yet, my hope, my stay, is upon my ROCK.  THE Rock. 

 

 

Psalm 18:4 says, "The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid."

 

 

Do you feel like the floods of ungodly men are overwhelming?  Making you afraid?

 

 

Isaiah 59:19 is a good verse to remember!   "So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun.  When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him."

 

 

Psalm 18:17-18:  "He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me:  for they were too strong for me.   They prevented me in the day of my calamity:  but the Lord was my stay."

 

 

What a precious promise!!!

 

 

Again in Psalm 18, verse 36:  "Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip."

I don’t necessarily think these verses mean we won’t suffer, that we will be delivered out of all painful and frightening circumstances, but I do think it means He will be with us, that He will give us His strength.  That He will be our Rock, our Fortress, our Deliverer, our Buckler and our High Tower.

 

 

Proverbs 18:10 says, "The name of the Lord is a strong tower:  the righteous runneth into it, and is safe."

 

One of my desires is to study the names of God.  One of the sad things about the English language is that we have the same word for many different meanings.  For example, love.  We love our family.  We love the dog.  We love ice cream.  In other languages there are different words that mean love, but you understand there is a different word for each because there are different levels and depths of the meaning of "love"!

 

 

It is the same with God’s names.  Such rich treasures waiting to be mined from learning His names!!!

 

 

I believe instead of spending time wringing my hands (and heart!) over the issues that are "coming in like a flood", I will spend more time learning His names, which represent His character to us.  I will lift up His name as a "standard" against the enemy tide coming in.  I will run to His name as a mighty fortress where I will not fear "them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul" (Mt. 10:28).  

 

 

Our souls are infinitely precious to Him–He died for us!!! 

 

When we see how precious we are to Him, we know that He has a plan.  The enemy has not taken God by surprise.  He wants us to run to Him in prayer, to pour out our hearts and fears to Him–the only one who can do anything about it all, anyway!   And in that place, He imparts to us His peace, sweet peace.  

 

 

And direction.  If He wants us to act on something, He will direct that–again, if we’re expending all our energy to fight the enemy (one of his favorite ploys, remember!), then we have that much less energy to praise our God, our Rock, our Mighty Defense!   (Remember Jehoshaphat!)

 

 

And JOY!   Psalm 32:10-11  "Many sorrows shall be to the wicked:  but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.   Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous:  and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart."

 

 

How do we get that joy?  That deep, abiding peace and joy that is not dependent on circumstances?   How can we say, like Habakkuk, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

"Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

"The Lord God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places."  Habakkuk 3:17-19

 

We can only get to the place where we will praise Him for Who He is no matter what, by spending time in His presence!

 

 

Psalm 16:11 "Thou wilt shew me the path of life:  in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."

 

 

If you are afraid or tempted to be, spend time with your Savior.    "He shall not be afraid of evil tidings:  his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord."  Psalm 112:7

 

 

Where is your heart?  Failing for fear?  Or fixed upon THE Rock?!

 

 

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 20th, 2009 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Saturday Psalm and Praise. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.