Original Entry: June 4, 2008
McMinnville, OR
The Lord
also will be a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble;
and those who know Your name will put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have
not forsaken those who seek you. Psalms
9:9-10
For years
I used a small bivouac tent for hunting that weighed in at less than four
pounds and cost less than fifty bucks.
It sounds like a great deal but you usually get what you pad for, which
I discovered in 2007 when I was caught is a snow storm at 8,000 feet elevation.
The one man tent began to drift up with snow even though concealed within a
small conifer grove. Failure to respond to the sagging tent would have caused
the tiny tent to collapse.
I
responded by using an emergency space blanket to make a lean to over the
entrance of the bivouac. This turned out
to be a life saver. Psalm 9:9 tells us that the Lord is “a stronghold in times of trouble.”
He covers us during times that we are “oppressed” or in “times of
trouble.”
Bad things
happen when the shelter has been compromised.
A
stronghold is a guard from the forces around a man. It covers the man who may
not be strong enough to weather the coming storms of life. Verse 9 teaches that God protects those who “trust” and “seek”
him. In other words, to seek God is also
to trust him. The act of trust manifests through the action of seeking (Matthew 6:33).
I thought
back to my lean-to. It is built to cover
an object by leaning away from the storm.
God covers those who lean away from the storms of life and into
Him. To seek God is to move in the God’s
direction. To trust Him is to allow Him
to cover every aspect of our lives. To
seek and trust God is to literally lean into Him.
“Trust in
the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in
all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs
3:5-6).
Where have
you leaned too hard on things that will buckle under pressure?
Where have
you leaned into material things that are only good in fair weather?
Where have
you leaned the wrong way?
