I have been reminded this week of the devasting swiftness with which life’s blows can fall, and how important it is to maintain a pliable spirit. As BestBeloved says, when the wind really blows, only bendable trees don’t break!
I think we all have times when we identify with the Psalmist’s sentiments in Psalm 61:
O God, listen to my cry! Hear my prayer! From the ends of the earth, I cry to you for help when 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!
Today I am especially grateful that from childhood my siblings and I were taught faith in God and his unfailing Word, a faith lived out by my parents, a faith that boldly declared “Jesus never fails!” even when circumstances were frightening. Their faith was a gift to us, not because it was perfect but because they were real enough to say like Job, “Even if He slays me, I will trust Him.”
It continues to be the gift that “keeps on giving.” From them I learned that no matter what the challenge, Jesus should always be the first port of call. From a headache to a heart attack, HE was the physician of choice, even when earthly doctors are involved – after all, healing is only possible because we were divinely created to be whole! From empty cupboards to empty bank accounts, Jesus was our source, and he supplied in ways beyond “what we could ask or even think.”
The world likes to say “she/he is a person of faith” and I’m not always sure what someone means when they say that. But for the child of God, faith has a resting place, God himself, the blessed Trinity, the source of life, the ultimate goal of living. Faith in God is not a wistful, cross-your-fingers effort at spirituality – it is “the towering rock of safety”, our “safe refuge,” our “fortress” when the battle rages.
I love the JBPhillips version of 2 Timothy 1v5: “I often think of that genuine faith of yours—a faith that first appeared in your grandmother Lois, then in Eunice your mother, and is now, I am convinced, in you as well. Because you have this faith, I now remind you to stir up that inner fire which God gave you at your ordination. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and love and a sound mind.”
Our faith in God is the victory that overcomes the world and quenches every fiery arrow the enemy hurls at us!
