Encouragements for our troubled times No. 16
COVID-19 Series | Date: 09 July 2020
The Elders and Deacons want to encourage the members and those who regularly meet with us through this weekly letter. If you have news which you would be happy to share with the fellowship or request for prayer, then please let us know.
A message from your Pastor
Psalm 91:1
"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."
We know that our God is true and faithful and cannot lie therefore when He makes a promise to us we can be absolutely sure that He means to keep it. But not all promises are meant for everyone. Some promises are given to individuals and meant for them only. Even then, the general meaning and truth of the promise are true for all. There are promises that have conditions attached to them. Even though these promises are meant for everyone, to obtain the blessing you have to meet the conditions. For instance, John 3 v 16 is a free offer of the gospel to everyone, but to obtain the promise that you ‘shall not perish but have everlasting life’ you must first ‘believe upon Him.’
Our verse, this week, is one such promise; it has a condition that we must meet if we want to enjoy the promise.
First, let us look at the condition. If we want to ‘abide under the shadow of the Almighty’ we must first be those who ‘dwell in the secret place of the Most High.’ Which means, we must be allowed into the presence of God and reside near Him. Of course, this refers to those who have been redeemed and adopted into the royal family of the Most High. It is a secret place because only the redeemed are allowed to enter there. So, in a general sense we all (if we are the redeemed) ‘abide under the shadow of the Almighty.’ We are kept by Him, protected by Him, and none can snatch us out of His hand. But, the nearer we are to the Almighty the safer we feel. The more we are in communion with Him, the more we will be aware of our closeness to Him. And the more we know of Him, the more we trust Him. Penguin chicks are left on their own for long periods while their parents go fishing for food. The only protection that the chicks have from the extremely low temperatures and predators is to huddle together. Those chicks closest to the centre of the huddle are warmest and safest. And so it is for us, if we want to be conscious of our safety in Him we must bask in the warmth of His presence; and we can only do that by being close to Him.
Secondly, we have this wonderful promise, we ‘shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.’ When a mother hen is aware of a danger she calls her chicks to her and they huddle together under her wings for safety. The chicks may have wandered some distance away from the hen and, therefore have some way to go before they are safe under her wings. But those ‘who dwells in the secret place of the Most High,’ ‘abide under the shadow of the Almighty.’ They live and reside in that ‘secret place’ and, therefore, are always safe in Him. We can never lose what the Almighty keeps; our salvation and inheritance are safe in Him. But, in our Christian walk, we can and do, wander from His presence, and the further we are from Him, the more vulnerable we are to the attacks of Satan. The safest place to be is close to Him so that when those attacks come there we are, ‘abiding under the shadow of the Almighty.’
In these days of the pandemic, we can feel so vulnerable, but we can take hold of this promise and be assured that, if we are His redeemed then, we are safe in Him. And the closer we are to Him, the more conscious we will be of our safety in Him.