The Shelter of the Most High

As far back as I can remember I was always a fearful person.  As a child, my nighttime routine consisted of me forfeiting the pleasure of sleeping on my pillow in order to use it as a barricade on the edge of my bed to prevent the monsters under the bed from reaching up and pulling me under there with them.  I would also pull the covers up…in 90 degree weather….completely over my head…in 90 degree weather…with no air-conditioning running and just our attic fan on….IN 90 DEGREE WEATHER!!  Fear stinks!

 I did eventually “outgrow” this….when I got married, but then I moved on to other fears.  A few months into our marriage my husband was the best man in his friend’s wedding and was going to be taking him out for his bachelor party.  I returned from the wedding rehearsal to our apartment to discover that the electric in that area was out due to a recent electrical storm.  Heart thumping and pulse racing…I opened the door to my dark (hopefully empty) apartment to find that the same fear I had hoped I escaped as a child had attached itself back to me in full force.  I scrambled to find every candle I could and jumped into my duck and cover position in my bed.  I laid there, paralyzed in fear, for what seemed like forever.  It was 3:30 in the morning before I finally drifted off to sleep from sheer exhaustion.  Fear stinks!

Fast forward a few years into my marriage….I have two beautiful daughters that the Lord has blessed me with….and one of them is going off to church camp.  The fear that gripped me was unlike any fear I had ever experienced.  It was irrational and just downright evil.  I feared everything from someone kidnapping her to a devastating car wreck.  I was torn up inside and could not function enough to even take care of my family, much less reach out to help others.  So….I finally decided to seek help….and I went to God’s Word.

Did you know that every answer you will ever need can be found in the Word of God!  The Lord led me to Psalm 91. 

 “Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  This I declare about the Lord:  He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.  For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease.  He will cover you with his feathers.  He will shelter you with his wings.  His faithful promises are your armor and protection.  Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day.  Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday.  Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you.  Just open your eyes, and see how the wicked are punished.  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.  For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.  They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.  You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!  The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.  I will protect those who trust in my name.  When they call on me, I will answer;  I will be with them in trouble.  I will rescue and honor them. I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”

Fear is crippling, and for years I walked around scared of my own shadow and what it could do to me….until I read and understood God’s promise to me in Psalm 91.  If you are a Christian and have submitted your life to His Lordship, you live in the shelter of the Most High.  There you find refuge, rescue from every kind of evil, health and healing, divine protection, and a promise that God will reward you with a long life and give you His salvation.  Praise the Lord! Freedom…peace…and a knowing that He who began a good work in me is faithful to keep me in perfect peace and see it to completion!