Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Today's verse is Psalm chapter 9 and verse 9. When I ask God to show us what He wants us to see as we read this scripture together, it says, "The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble." Those words are incredibly encouraging, especially for those of us who are either currently or have recently gone through a really difficult season.
To know that this is true about the Living God is absolutely encouraging to help us to move along the next steps of life. To know that there is someone who is aware, who cares, who has done amazing things and yet sees us on our journey.
A Tangible Understanding
I want to say a little bit more about this verse that might even deepen your appreciation for its encouragement. I remember I took a trip to Israel a few years ago, and when I was on that trip, one of the instructors talked about the rabbinical way of teaching. It was this idea that when you look around and saw the landscape that surrounded you, you would incorporate that into what you were trying to communicate in order to help people really get a grasp for it.
In other words, what they would say is, "If you can't see it, you can't teach it." We're on this bus and the instructor threw out an idea and said, "I'm going to ask you guys to fill in the blank. So when I say these words, just say what comes to mind. God is..." And then left it blank.
All the people on the bus who are all from the West here in America were saying, "Well, God is awesome. God is powerful, God is loving." Obviously, all of these words are true. What he said back to us is, "Although those words are true, a lot of people here might not use those kind of descriptive words. What they would probably say here is something like, 'God is like a shade tree. God is a rock.'" The is a rabbinical way of teaching. There's a tangibility that represents the understanding of what God intends for humanity to know about Himself.
Seeing God in Tangible Ways
When we look at this Psalm and we see that God is a shelter and that God is a refuge, this is something that they would see tangibly. They would think of probably a cave or some sort of structure that was solidly built that they could stand up under, knowing that they would be protected. This was something that they could hold fast to when the situations of life that were chaotic were taking hold of their journey. They could grasp onto these things that represented what was true about the character and the nature of God.
You probably were thinking, "Well, how can that help me today?" Maybe instead of us feeling like there's a mystery in understanding how God and His love for us affects us in our daily rhythms, in our daily life, maybe we can look around and say God is a solid foundation. When you drive past a new building that's being built in your neighborhood, or maybe you could say that God is like a shade tree protecting me from the sun beating down when you drive past a local park.
Maybe today you'll remember that God is not just far off and distant, but that God is with you in the daily rhythms of life.
