5-28-2014

Good Morning All,

        Psalm 46:1; “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

      I was a watcher of “Star Trek”, the real one with Kirk, Spock and Scotty.  It was really quite an amusing show to watch.  One thing that always amused me was that, at the start of the show, it was usually Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and then some flunky that landed on the new planet.  It never failed, the flunky never survived.  Something always killed him.  Then Kirk and the rest would spend most of the rest of the show trying to get back to the ship.  They were always met with problems but eventually they made it to the ship and were safe.  All they wanted to do was to get to the ship to be safe.  Why didn’t they just stay there?

     We actually spend a lot of time doing the same thing.  We spend a lot of time trying to get back to our ship where we are safe.  We are often blindsided by life.  Many times, it seems to be going well.  We feel healthy, our job is going smoothly, the family is happy happy and then, out of nowhere, BOOM!! It hits us hard.  In the blink of an eye, things change.  That ever so routine doctor’s visit turns up something not so routine.  Maybe we wake in the middle of the night with a pain in the chest that seems like someone is crushing us.  It could be anything but all at once, life changes.  It might be your job; it might be something with a family member; it could be any of a number of things; but it hits us hard.  All we want to do is get to safety, all we want to do is to get back to the ship.

    That is what the psalmist is telling us in this verse.  Our ship, the place where we are safe, is in God’s grace.  It is an immediate place of safety, like a shelter in a storm.  It gives us hope when we turn to it in faith.  The thing to remember about finding shelter in a storm, you are still wet when you go inside; you will still feel cold and maybe a shiver or two.  Yet soon the warmth will begin and the wetness will go away.  This is much the same way that our faith works.  There is still a little residue of the pain but soon God’s warming mercy begins to cover us and soon we are resting in the comfort of his loving arms.

    What we then see is that this refuge is really a fortress.  It is a place where we will always have safety; it is a place where we will always find refuge.  It will always be our shelter.  It is the place where we can be to heal from the wounds we experience in life.  It is the place where we can be nourished back to full strength.  It is the place where we can find true and wholesome rest.  When the battles and struggles of this sinful world wage against us, God is our only refuge.  It is his mercy alone that saves us.

Wondrous Father, in you alone do we have safe haven.  In you alone are we secure from the attacks of the devil.  Guide us by your Spirit to the safety of your loving arms.  Be with those who are under attack and in need of refuge.  Be with the families that are being assaulted.  Be with those who are physically and emotionally attacked.  Guard them with your holy arm.  Bring them to refuge in you.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret