With chaos and corona raging outside, come in from the storm. Shelter in place in God. Find rest in the 9-1-1 of Psalms.
This is week 1 in our 8-week journey in Psalm 91.
It’s Coming
We woke up to a loud knocking on our hotel door.
It was 5 a.m. on our honeymoon. Jeff and I had spent the last 4 days in Hawaii. We had two more days to go on the small island of Kauai. Or so we thought.
The hotel worker at the door was warning us: Stay here! Do not leave the hotel! A hurricane is coming!
Isn’t this how all of us feel in our world right now? Stay at home! Go nowhere! The pandemic is coming!
If you’re like me, it’s caused you to be unfocused, to have trouble concentrating, to feel insecure.
What is safe and what isn’t?
Listen for the Announcement
A few hours later that morning, another hotel worker warned us to leave our rooms and belongings. Gather in the hotel ballroom. It would be safer there than in our individual rooms when the hurricane came on shore.
We listened to their announcement, to every word they said.
Listen for God’s announcements in this COVID-19 crisis, too. Here’s one announcement in Psalm 91:1, a 9-1-1 verse when we’re in need of protection.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalm 91:1
Find Your Safe Place
Jeff and I gathered a few things to take with us to the ballroom…two pillows, my purse, a book…then locked our door, following the crowd to the ballroom. Many people were already there, huddled around tables, talking, worrying, wondering. But safe.
Where is the best place for us to shelter-in-place from a pandemic? God’s presence. God’s presence is the safest place for us any time, good times or bad.
When we dwell in His shelter (remain, abide, take a seat and stay awhile), we are shaded from the heat of the storm. The storm doesn’t go away, but we have a layer of peace covering us in the midst of it.
Talk to the Chaos
But the hotel ballroom wasn’t our final hiding place that day of Hurricane Iniki. Before long, the strong winds broke windows of the ballroom and rain came in, mixed with shards of glass. The staff led us all to a part of the hotel I’d never seen before, the tunnels underneath.
There was more people than room to spread out in the tunnels. We scrunched together along the walls in the narrow hallways.
Everyone was tired, hungry, anxious. But a strange thing happened. No longer able to hear the winds we knew were furiously ripping into everything above us, we filled the room instead with conversations, with singing, with prayers.
Psalm 91:2 does the same thing. After hearing the announcement in verse 1, the psalmist responds:
I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Psalm 91:2
We need to say this, too. Speak it over your chaos.
And say it to the Lord, even when you’re wavering, even when you’re scared, even when you’re uncertain of what will happen next: “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Declare who you know Him to be, even in the midst of your doubts.
It’s enough from us. The heavy load is on God.
And God is bigger than our faith, stronger than our fears, and more peaceful than our storms.
This Storm Will Pass
By nightfall, Hurricane Iniki left. It had devastated the island of Kauai, Hawaii, throughout the day.
But now it was still. Quiet. Dark. Most of our hotel was still standing. And everyone inside the hotel was safe. We had stayed put, and it made a difference.
We were each given a candle and released to return to our rooms. Our room was still habitable, although it was wet and contained debris, despite the door still being closed.
We finally went to sleep that night, not knowing how or when we would get home (that’s another story).
But we were alive. And together.
Regardless of the devastation that the coronavirus threatens us with, we can rest assured that if we stay in our shelter, once the storm passes, our souls will have survived.
And we will still be with God. Together.
He’ll help us pick up the pieces and put our lives back together. Then, as now, He will remain our refuge, our fortress, our God.
In Him we can trust.
- Is your state under a “shelter-in-place” order? How are you doing with it?
- Do you have a prayer room or favorite chair or other place in your home where you can quietly meet with God?
