A Safe Dwelling Place

Have you ever been perplexed by tragedy which comes to a family of earnest Christian believers? It's hard, sometimes, to reconcile what we understand about God's faithfulness with what we see happening around us—or perhaps to us. Yes, we hear stories of miraculous deliverance, apparently because someone prayed or even "commanded" the elements to cease. The tornado lifts up and spares the home, the flood stops rising just in time, the fire sweeps past the house without burning it down, the earth leaves off its quaking before the walls collapse.

Well, what about such intervention? Why does it work for him/her/them and not for me? Am I not good enough for God's special attention? Is my faith not strong enough? Or are these disasters something God doesn't bother to interrupt?

There is no doubt in my mind that sometimes, for His own good reasons, God performs a rescue; I think we cannot explain some occurrences any other way. There is also no doubt in my mind that sometimes, for His own good reasons, He does not step in with a rescue, and people of faith suffer huge loss right along with those who care nothing at all for God. We quote Scripture over and over: "If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home." (Psalm 91:9-10) A wonderful promise. Well then, why can't we make it work?

I think we don't see the promise of God's protection "working" because we don't understand what the promise says. Our earliest written psalm is a prayer of Moses. He declared, "Lord, through all the generations you have been our home!" (Psalm 90:1, emphasis mine) God was his dwelling place! Not the king's palace of prestige and plenty where he grew up as a boy. Not the land of Egypt where he ate fish and all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic he wanted. Not the heat and dust of the wilderness where he tried unsuccessfully to lead a fearful and disobedient crowd to their homeland. If "home" consists solely of the roof over my head, home can be destroyed by wind or flood or fire. But no evil can conquer me nor any plague come near my home if that "home" is God Himself.

MaryMartha
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved.

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com