"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty...For He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and buckler.... For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways...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. With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation." (Ps. 91:1, 3-4,11,14-15)
So many times in my life, I realize that I am operating out of a works-based lifestyle--doing devotions vs. being in my Savior's presence. Tonight I was reminded that I have a bad habit of taking even the things that are supposed to be part of the essence of grace and make them works. Like resting.
Instead of simply resting in His presence, I make the whole resting idea out to be a process. If I can just find the rest, my actions say. I treat resting as if I'm hunting dry firewood in a forest that just underwent a hurricane. As if it were a nearly impossible task, I seek rest as if it were way out of reach and something I have to work at.
Psalm 91 is about God being our refuge. On the surface it is a beautiful depiction and an encouraging word for believers. But digging deeper into the syntax of the sentences yields a freeing truth. (I know, this is where all my non-English major friends tune me out... but hang in there.=) In grammar class, Dr. Stavick has been encouraging us to notice the use of pronouns both in comparison to the percentage of nouns and in analysis of the meaning of a text. When I was reading through this, I particularly noticed how much focus was put on God and what He is doing. Most of the chapter, we are the direct objects--the action is being performed upon us. This is the opposite of my hunting for rest idea. I am not the subject of most of these verses. God is the subject, and He is performing the action. He is delivering, protecting, covering, commanding, guarding, answering, rescuing, honoring, satisfying, and showing; all the difficult actions are His. I am only dwelling, abiding, finding Him faithful, holding fast, knowing His name, and calling on Him. None of the actions I am performing here require me to be running about.
All this time I've been running after refuge, Refuge has been running after me.
So many times in my life, I realize that I am operating out of a works-based lifestyle--doing devotions vs. being in my Savior's presence. Tonight I was reminded that I have a bad habit of taking even the things that are supposed to be part of the essence of grace and make them works. Like resting.
Instead of simply resting in His presence, I make the whole resting idea out to be a process. If I can just find the rest, my actions say. I treat resting as if I'm hunting dry firewood in a forest that just underwent a hurricane. As if it were a nearly impossible task, I seek rest as if it were way out of reach and something I have to work at.
Psalm 91 is about God being our refuge. On the surface it is a beautiful depiction and an encouraging word for believers. But digging deeper into the syntax of the sentences yields a freeing truth. (I know, this is where all my non-English major friends tune me out... but hang in there.=) In grammar class, Dr. Stavick has been encouraging us to notice the use of pronouns both in comparison to the percentage of nouns and in analysis of the meaning of a text. When I was reading through this, I particularly noticed how much focus was put on God and what He is doing. Most of the chapter, we are the direct objects--the action is being performed upon us. This is the opposite of my hunting for rest idea. I am not the subject of most of these verses. God is the subject, and He is performing the action. He is delivering, protecting, covering, commanding, guarding, answering, rescuing, honoring, satisfying, and showing; all the difficult actions are His. I am only dwelling, abiding, finding Him faithful, holding fast, knowing His name, and calling on Him. None of the actions I am performing here require me to be running about.
All this time I've been running after refuge, Refuge has been running after me.
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