God - My Refuge My Strength

"Those who live (dwell) in the shelter of the Most High 

will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 

This i declare about the Lord: 

He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; 

he is my God and I trust him.

Psalms 91:1,2

Hello Beauties,

As I studied Psalms 91 this past week I found a great sense of security in knowing that God not only is my King and my Father. But He is also my guardian.

Google defines it as follows:

guard·i·an

ˈɡärdēən/

noun

1. a defender, protector, or keeper.

   
   

   "self-appointed guardians of public morality"

   
   

   synonyms:

   protector, defender, preserver, custodian, warden, guard, keeper; More

   • a person who looks after and is legally responsible for someone who is unable to manage their own affairs, especially an incompetent or disabled person or a child whose parents have died.

Our Sunday School class at church has been studying a wonderful book by Max Lucado called "Come Thirsty". Chapter 12 of this book has really impacted my life. The focus of this chapter 12 is Psalm 91. 

This Psalm teaches us that that God never over looks any of his children. His Lordship (supreme power/rule) can be found in the verses of this beautiful Psalm. He personally is our protector and defender. He personally preserves us and keeps guard over us day and night. God promises you and I that if we find refuge and safety in the shelter that HE provides, He WILL rescue you, shield you, shelter you, hold you, protect you, answer you, and be with you. He promises all these things and then says evil will NOT touch you. 

Google interestingly enough defines "guardian" as 1. a person who looks after and is legally responsible for 2. someone who is unable to manage his own affairs especially an incompetent or disabled 3. person or child who's parents have died. 

Here is how I see it:

1. 1. God is legally responsible for us - He solidified his ownership of us at the Cross of Calvary when Jesus took upon himself the penalty of our sins (John 3:16) by offering himself as the perfect sacrifice. Jesus gave his life and shed his blood in order to redeem us and reconciled us to the Father.  (2 Corinthians 5:18)
2. 
   
3. 2. We were unable, incompetent and disabled when it came to managing our own spiritual affair.  There was nothing that you and I could do. (Colosians 2:13) Jesus was and continues to be the One and only solution to this worlds sin problem. He was the only One capable, the only One competent and the only One able to bridge the great divide that sin created between us a sinful humanity and God a Holy King. (Hebrews 10:14)
4. 
   
5. 3. The Fall of Man (Genesis 3) left humanity as spiritual orphans. But through Christ there are no orphans of God. In fact together with Christ we are heirs of God's glory!  (Romans 8:17)
6. 
   

You see, God offers us MORE than just the "possibility" of protection. He guarantees it! Yet in those moments in our lives when our hearts are torn, and we are overwhelmed and filled with confusion, we find it difficult to trust in the Lord. We take on a mentality that says God watches over others and can't possibly be watching over me. We have the tendency to believe that we can make it on our own. So we begin to rely on our own strength and in our own understanding. Our hearts and our minds can not comprehend why we're in the situation that we're in. We begin to question "doesn't God's word say that nothing bad will happen to me? So why is this_____ (fill in the blank) happening to me?"

Chapter 12 has helped me understand that God and I have very different definitions to what "bad" is. 

"What is bad to a child isn't always bad to a dad. 

Not only has God read the story of your life... He wrote it. 

His perspective is different, and his purpose is clear." 

(pg 120 of Come Thirsty by Max Lucado) 

We see only what is here and now. But God knows our past, our present, AND our future. He see's the end result! What the devils intends for evil in our lives, God turns it around and uses it for good. The question is, will we honor and trust God while we are in the process? Or will we continue to fall back on our old ways? We can not place our trust in that which we do not know. Could it be that the reason we do not fully trust God is because we have yet to KNOW who He is?  What God wants more than anything is to have a personal and intimate relationship with non other than YOU. As with any relationship getting to know the other requires spending time together talking and sharing with one another. Yes, God wants to have that with you.

It is only when we have learned to honor and trust the Lord that we will find refuge and safety in him.  How patient and merciful and gracious is our Lord, that he leads us through our process. He gives us chance after chance to learn from our mistakes and grow in our knowledge and understanding of who he is and how much he loves us. As we search for the Lord in our experiences and in our process we begin to know him more. And the more we get to know him, the more we learn to trust him. We begin to understand that what we need more than anything else is the precious love of God upon us. It is there in our process where we learn that everything we have been searching for can be found only in Jesus Christ. Because our help comes from the Lord the maker of heaven and earth.(Psalm121:2)

God is our refuge and strength. You can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is your PRESENT not maybe in the future, but your present help in times of trouble. 

Naida 

Here is one of my favorite songs by one of my all time favorite worshipers. 

Fred Hammond 

"God is my Refuge"

Album "Worship Journal"