Sunday, January 16, 2011

Dwelling In The Shelter

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." (Psalm 91:1)

The Hebrew word for dwell in this passage is yashab. Yashab means to sit down, to remain or stay or to make that place your abode. It is where you live. Psalm 91 is a wonderful picture of God's protection and care. The outcome of sitting down is rest in his presence. Rest is a real good thing. I read an article today by Greg Laurie that talked about how 50% of Americans are constant worriers, but only about 8% of the things they worry about are actually legitimate.

Life can be stressful. but we have a place of refuge in the Lord. It is a place of rest and peace. We access it by our fellowship with Him. We do that by time in the Word, prayer, worship and a heart attitude that cultivates His presence. What do I mean by that? We learn to live in an awareness of His presence. In 1st Thessalonians 5:17 Paul tells us to "pray without ceasing." If we think of prayer as a religious exercise that would be impossible, but if we think of prayer as communication (communion) with the Lord then it can become a reality.

There are times when how we pray will be more intense than others. Sometimes we will withdraw to a quiet place, just as Jesus did. Sometimes though, we will find ourselves in a place where we just can't do that. Does that mean that God won't hear us or we can't receive His wisdom and help? Absolutely not. He is always near, but we need to sharpen our awareness and understanding of that. It really starts with a mindset that God is with me wherever I and we are having a constant conversation.

There is rest in this constant conversation with him. Stop striving and chasing. Psalm 91 is a wonderful place to start.

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