the secret place prom-
ises and commitments
of high consecration are
whispered gently from
the heart directly into the
ear of God. This is the
believer's refuge "in the
shadow of the Almighty"
where a person is truly
known, where he can be
truly himself. Here is
where he meets with God
without pretense, without
explanation to the out-
side world. Here prayer
is both the music and
the air that is breathed.
When God reigns in the
secret place, priorities are
reordered, old wounds are
healed, nagging questions
are answered. This is the
place protected by God,
with stalwart walls no
enemy can breach. The
only compromise comes
if the heart lets down the
drawbridge and invites
the enemy in.
a hostile world. Reading
through the psalm can be
at once reassuring, then
again it seems to mock.
The magnificent promises
signal that the child of
God is invincible despite
any enemies, any attacks
that come against him.
Typical of the psalm's as-
surances are verses 5-7,
"You will not fear the ter-
ror of night, nor the ar-
row that flies by day, nor
the pestilence that stalks
plague that destroys
at midday. A thousand
may fall at your side, ten
thousand at your right
hand, but it will not come
near you." But reality
speaks of something quite
different.
at times there
are terrors in the
he may not be hit by lit-
eral arrows, sharp attacks
come from family, friend
and foe. And the plague
sometimes attacks his
body so that he is gasping
for breath while in an-
other way a soul sickness
can threaten to steal the
soul's breath. Does this
mean that any child of
God who suffers difficulty
has failed to remain in the
"shadow of the Almighty"?
Has he strayed away from
tected when he should be
standing unaffected like
a comic book superhero?
There must be another
way to understand what
is said in this psalm. If
not, it promises but does
not deliver, it entices but
never satisfies.
warrior could claim vic-
tory if he never fought?
Is it not in the life and
death struggle of conflict
that the warrior learns of
egy prevails against the enemy that faces him? So it
is that the trouble that attacks us while we serve the
living God is not evil at all if it brings us closer to our
Father, teaches us the ways of the Kingdom. If my
desperate struggle forces me to cry out to the Lord, to
seek Him rather than look in vain elsewhere, today's
fight prepares me better for tomorrow's victory. We
hear echoes of Christ's words: "Do not be afraid of
those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul" (Mat-
thew 10:28).
suffer harm, become ill, are made to bow
beneath a back breaking load, ultimately
believer learns that "in all things God works for the
good of those who love Him" (Romans 8:28). The con-
cern for the child of God is not that he is given a pass
on physical illness, has a fat bank account, loves his
job or has a family that smiles at each other placidly
around the supper table while speaking in calm, re-
assuring tones to each other. His concern is how he
is being fitted for the Kingdom of God, how his life
pleases the One who loves him more tenderly than
any mother loves her child.
erful that God's provision isn't greater. Pestilence may
you in a fitful fever, but this cannot wrest
your soul from God. Armies may overrun
every outpost and occupy the land, but you
can know they cannot take the hill of God
in your heart. Arrows may pierce and you
teeing that in Him you can be sustained.
not enough to defeat us. God speaks, saying, "He will
call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in
trouble,
tion for his soul. The psalmist helps us understand, as
he surveys the broken world around him, that though
it is strewn with wreckage, the child of God walks up-
right in victory over the debris of a fallen world.
priorities are reordered, old wounds are
healed, nagging questions are answered."