As I slowly became conscious I was aware that I was hearing music. I was listening to the words of Psalm 91 but not from an external source; the music was coming from my heart. The truth of the words bathed my mind, my soul and my spirit as I began the day.
I was on my way to church when Abigail called and I knew there was something terribly wrong. I wanted to comfort her with the words of the Psalm that I had been meditating on but suddenly I was afraid that I might be giving her false hope. You see the same Psalm that talks about dwelling in the shelter of the Most High and abiding in the shadow of the Almighty says that if you make the Lord your refuge and fortress that he would deliver you from the deadly pestilence.
I wanted to tell Abigail that she could trust God and that he would cover her with his pinions. I wanted to promise her that she could find refuge under God's wing and that his faithfulness would be a shield. But I hesitated, would there be no terror of the night? Could I really promise her that she and her baby would be spared from the pestilence that stalks in the darkness? Did I really believe that if she made the Lord her dwelling place and the Most High her refuge that no evil would be allowed to befall her and no plague would come near her or her child?
Yes I hesitated, until I realized that I was being tempted to doubt God's word with the same Psalm that Satan used to tempt Jesus in the wilderness. Satan tempted Jesus to begin his ministry by throwing himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, that is if he really was the Son of God. Then he quoted this from Psalm 91,"For he will give his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, least you strike your foot against a stone." In other words Satan was telling Jesus there was no need for him to bruise his heel. That's when I began to understand the fullness the promises I woke up to that morning.
In paradise when Satan temped Eve to doubt God's word terror was introduced into the night. Man became afraid and instead of fellowshiping with God when he came to them at the time of the evening breeze they hid themselves. Because of sin, pestilence was aloud to salk in the darkness, death came and every child would be born to the anguished cry of pain from it's mother. But in the middle of the pronouncement of the curse God made a way were there seemed to be no way. God said to the serpent, "I will put hostility between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel."( Genesis 3:15)
I had never seen it before, this Psalm that Satan tempted Jesus with to save himself from the pain of striking his foot goes on to to promise that the serpent would be trampled under foot. My heart again to sing the words, "Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him." On our way to the hospital amid tears and pain we sought shelter together of the Most High and found refuge in the shadow of the Almighty.
At my granddaughter's memorial service we requested that Psalm 91 be read. There were tears and there was sorrow but there was also hope not false hope but a confident expectation of good. There was also worship for the God who allowed his heel to be bruised on the cross and in so doing to crush the serpent's head. As we worshiped our Savior with heavy hearts and tear filled eyes I heard in my spirit the final words of the Psalm, "With a long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation."
No comments:
Post a Comment