“O God, listen to my cry! Hear my prayer! From the ends of the earth, I will cry to you for help, for my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety, for you are my safe refuge, a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me. Let me live forever in your sanctuary, safe beneath the shelter of your wings!”
Psalm 61:1-4 (NLT)
When our son Jonathan was born, Bobbie and I lived in a duplex in Gadsden, AL, on a quiet street in an old, but well-to-do, neighborhood. Both sides of the duplex were large with a “dog run” separating them. Bobbie loved that house. Even now, some thirty-odd years later, if we drive down that street, she gets all romantic and dreamy-eyed when we pass “her house.”
She had mixed feelings when I asked her to move from there, but I had accepted a pastoral appointment in another city. It wasn’t that she rejected my decision to pastor or to accept that particular appointment, she just loved that house. If you ask her why, she can’t tell you. There was just something about it that made her feel content and secure in her life. The idea of leaving there made her uncomfortable.
Some years later, and several moves since then, she said to me one day in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, “I have decided that it isn’t the place we live that makes me happy or makes me feel at home.” What is it then? “I must decide to be happy, no matter where I live. And home is wherever you and my children are.”
I know that Bobbie was right. She will also tell you that God is always with us no matter what city or house we live in. And happiness is knowing that he is there and will be our shelter.
Dear Father, thank you for your sanctuary of grace and mercy. Grant to us the sanctuary of your constant presence. Enable us to be joyful in all our circumstances. Empower us to live securely in you. This I pray in Jesus’ name. AMEN
Let us praise God for his presence and live humbly before him,