Remember last week we talked about the Armor of God? This week, as I was driving (I do A LOT of that!), I was praying for The Lord to help me to be intentional about putting on the WHOLE Armor - EVERYDAY. A thought struck me. Even if I put on the Armor, without God's presence and protection where will I be? The armor is for protection from the enemy. Without it my heart and flesh will most certainly fail, also without God's presence I will fail. My niece asked for prayer and I asked God to help her put on her armor, the I started praying, and I put on the armor, but now what?
You all know that me and my family are walking a path that most families don’t even want to think about. I have shared with you that I have felt as if God was not “talking” to me. I can feel Him near, there is just no communication coming from Him. A precious Java sister told me to “Bask” in that fact. I have honestly tried to do that! In the last few weeks I have prayed and begged God to speak to me. He HAS been speaking to me through people that He has put around me like you! I asked God, that day in the car “I want the whole armor, but without YOU, without Your presence what is it worth?.... And by the way… where have you been? Why have you been so silence these last few months?” He spoke to me, right there in my car. His small still voice said “You are under my Wings!” WOW! What a thought! It gave me so much peace. THAT'S why I haven't heard Him! All the sounds of His voice, the world moving around me would be muffled. I am under His wings. The storm would be muffled, I am protected by God Himself! That thought has tumbled around my brain like towels in a dryer.
You can imagine my surprise when I looked up the lyrics to the old hymn “Under His wings”:
Under His wings I am safely abiding; Though the night deepens and tempests are wild, Still I can trust Him, I know He will keep me; He has redeemed me, and I am His child. Under His wings, under His wings, Who from His love can sever? Under His wings my soul shall abide, Safely abide forever. Under His wings—what a refuge in sorrow! How the heart yearningly turns to His rest! Often when earth has no balm for my healing, There I find comfort, and there I am blest. Under His wings—oh, what precious enjoyment! There will I hide till life’s trials are o’er; Sheltered, protected, no evil can harm me; Resting in Jesus I’m safe evermore.
Then I looked up the scripture to go with this idea: Psalm 91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide [1] under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. 3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. 4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: BUT LOOK AT THIS: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. 5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; 6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. 7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. 8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
Did you SEE that? All of those things, we are guarding ourselves from by putting on the Armor of God? God is already shielding us from by putting us under His wings! Picture a mother Hen. When danger comes the babies run for shelter under their momma. She will sit on them and take whatever comes. A storm? She will take on the thunder. The lightning? She will take it to keep her babies safe. God is so much more the same! He has shielded me! I have on my armor to fight the enemy on a daily basis but I have the power of God my Father backing me up! When the storms of life come, and they WILL, He is faithful to shelter you with HIMSELF. He has not sent us out to figure it out alone. He is with us, even in the storm.