“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” - Psalm 46:1-3
I’ve been struggling with this week’s theme of protection since I signed up to write it. There’s so much in this world we can fixate on to be afraid of, and I sometimes find it hard to believe God can promise protection in this world full of hurt, hate, and disasters (both natural and manmade.) As the days passed, I tried to write but no words came to mind. I prayed and asked God for direction but struggled to slow down long enough to hear an answer.
Then, while looking back through my STAY study from last year, I opened a page filled with my notes and stopped in my tracks. There, in the margins of the “Today’s Takeaways” section was my request for the Lord to provide miraculous, lasting healing for a family member. I also prayed for peace and comfort for their immediate family members who were impacted the most. While God did answer the prayer for peace in the way I had asked it, He did not in fact heal my family member. Despite our many prayers and an intense belief that we would see a miracle, our family member went home to be with the Lord. And here’s the thing: I still believe God protected this man and his family.
Let’s look at an excerpt from the STAY study:
“No matter what type of hardship we face, the Lord’s protection is still with us. We may not understand it or see how He’s moving for a bigger purpose, but it’s still there. How can this be? Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and our belief in His identity as the Son of God, our futures are set for all eternity… When we pray for protection and safekeeping, we can rest assured that while we can’t be promised all-encompassing protection on this earth, we don’t have to fear or focus on our earthly lives. If we are saved by the blood of Jesus, the Lord has promised to protect our souls from the death that could’ve awaited us in Hell and has instead placed our names on the scrolls of the Book of Life.”
As believers and children of God, we are ultimately protected for eternity and can call Heaven our home. This earth is not the end for us, and even when things are hard, we can fix our eyes on the big picture.
Even further, God is an ever-present help in our times of need, and we can find our strength and solace in who He is, even when our circumstances are bleak. God is able to use all situations for good, and we must trust that even when our prayers aren’t answered the way we would like them to be, God will still be there to be our refuge, give us strength, and help us find purpose in our pain.
And as the Psalmist writes, “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” (Psalm 46:2-3). Think of the worst-case scenario for you. No matter what that is, you can insert God’s presence into the equation because He will be with you. “Even if ____(Worst Case Scenario)____, God will be there.”
- Jantzen Jolly-Miller