Psalm 37:34-40
Wait for the LORD and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when
the wicked are cut off, you will see it. I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a green tree in its
native soil, but he soon passed away and was no more; though I looked for him, he could not
be found. Consider the blameless, observe the upright; there is a future for
the man of peace. But all sinners will be destroyed; the future of
the wicked will be cut off. The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD; he is their stronghold in
time of trouble. The LORD helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and
saves them, because they take refuge in him. (NIV)
The word 'wait' jumped out at me and then in verse 39 'stronhold.' I grew up in France so I have seen several fortified castles build in the Middle Ages. If you stand in my parents dinning room, and you looked out the big window, you can see a tower in the distance. A Lord build a castle and all that is left are the foundations and the biggest tower. Noblemen such as Lords, Ducs etc would build their own castles but the biggest fortidfied castles was build for the king of the country. Sometimes they had two walls and the king lived in a tower and the queen lived in the tower on the other side. The wall outside was used to defend the castle and guards and soldiers lived in those towers. If an enemy attacked your land the safest place to be was in the king's castle. In this passage, David tells us that God is our stronghold. We live in the most fortified place available to us.
ReplyDeleteLast week, when we had tornadoes near us we all knew that the safest place to be is in the basement. The house might have been destroyed but each person that took refuge was safe.
God has provided a way for us to be saved from our biggest enemy Satan. His Son shed His blood on the cross to cover our sins. God rose Him from the dead and God offers us the same power in our lives not just the minute we are saved but as we continue to live.
If Jesus is our savior and Lord in our life, we are in the safest location we can be. When we sin we are in a different location, we choose to step out of the stronghold but when we tell God what we just did, we come back into the stronghold.
David was a king and several times he had to run away from his catle to hide from his enemies. He knew that even if he was in the wilderness he was still in God's stronghold.
Thank you Lord that we can be with you!