“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

When the wicked, even mine enemies, and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord (delightfulness) of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me upon a rock.” Psalm 27:1-5

That is probably a very familiar passage and it is as powerful and as vital for our spiritual survival today as it was for David, when those words were inspired into his heart.

And our world today is truly darker because we are in the last days, the days that have been foretold, days concerning futuristic times that many scholars and theologians  have attempted to determine, the days whose events were once thought to be only symbolic because at that time the details seemed impossible.

Those who once could not fathom the image from Revelation chapter eleven, as the two witnesses of God lie dead in the street, how the entire world could see this image and how the entire world could be filled with glee over those deaths, but as that was impossible for those before us to understand as a literal event, we now know, due to technology that those before us could not even imagine, and we know that now thanks to the internet people the world over seeing images from the world over is nothing extraordinary, but an every day routine, all the events that we as humans have tried for years to rationalize as “symbolic” are just as they are proving to be, quite literal.

So for me, when I think of David, I take those words literal. He had haters, those who would have loved to have put him in the grave and then danced with glee on top it. He had battles, he felt loneliness and isolation, and I am sure there were times he felt misunderstood , even by those closest to him, especially when he chose to show mercy to those others felt were more deserving of being shown vengeance by the edge of a sword.

All the same emotions we experience today, different time, different battles but still the same old enemy, the enemy that had been whispering his lies since the day he had the serpent speak those twisted words into the ears and heart of Eve and that is the voice that still speaks hatred and hopelessness today, and that is his purpose, his plan, and his end goal.

It is not just about the world and how that world will be controlled, it is about you, and me, and ALL that are created in the image of God, which means all of us, it is personal, don’t you think he would have loved to have put an end to David?

How happy would he have been to have David order the execution of his son, the son who was determined to take his kingdom, rather than lament his death as David did. It is all the same old voice and he is not whispering anything new, he whispers the same words that have divided us since the fall of man, the words undoubtedly that he used to convince one third of the host of heaven to rebel against their creator and their God. 

I want to remind us all of the words of Jesus as he expounded on what we could expect as we near the end of days, end of the days of this present world but the beginnings of the blessed world eternal.

“And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and at what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?   

And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man  deceive you.

For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye not be troubled: For all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Then they shall deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.

And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and hate one another.  

And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.  And because inquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

But he that shall endure unto the end shall be saved.” Matthew 24:3-13

As Jesus warned us and all these things began with the disciples and the persecution of the  early churches and continue with the persecutions of Christians today, but with the spread of false religions and false prophets “preaching” a gospel that is NOT of the one true God, we also see that love, as I have written on many times, the common compassion one for another, as humans is being destroyed due to that hatred and sin that abounds now.

And there are those whose actions give you more than enough reason to feel anything except love toward them but when you think of this spiritually, as I once heard a preacher mention in regard to something someone else had said concerning how they were mistreated, the only “good” these people will ever know is in this world. If they do not repent, what kindness they know, what peace if any that will have, is what they have here, on this side of eternity.

As Jesus taught us love truly conquers all and love must be protected and if the enemy had his way he would steal every ounce of love in your heart today.  David did not write this when he was on “the mountain top”, he did not write this as he felt confident and victorious, he wrote this when he felt what we all feel at times, afraid, weak, discouraged, and alone.

And in those times he learned to look ahead, to look to the end of all things, he learned to ask, and to seek, to pray for the covering shelter of the Lord.

Only God knows what you may be feeling today or why you are feeling that way but I want to encourage you to “turn off” all the noises that trouble you and rest in the assurance that this world and all the trouble of it is nothing in sight of eternity and when there are things here that are beyond our control to ever change we can have hope knowing that those things will one day cease and love and mercy are forever and that wonderful “place” that God so often hid David He will hide you also, and that is your for the asking. 

Think of all the times you have heard the term “cover”, on movies, “Cover me, I’m going in”, Insurances that we are “covered by” someone “covering” a tab, the term has always meant to be taken care of, to be protected from an unknown attack, for someone to help us when we need that help. God is supreme at covering us, he covers us with his love and Jesus covered our souls by purchasing us with his blood. And there is no way that he is going to just leave you stranded, feeling beaten, lonely and afraid.

“The righteous cry and the Lord heareth and delivereth him out of all his troubles.” Psalm 34:17

“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” Proverbs 18:10

“The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom will I trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower,” Psalm 18:2

We can’t fight these things alone, God never intended us to, so use this as a model for your prayer and always know that no matter how down we get or alone we may feel that Jesus is and always will be the someone, the only one who is “higher than I”.

Psalm 61:1-4 “Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.

From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower  from the enemy.

I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert (shelter) of thy wings.” 

Take him up on that covering shelter today!

Φλογιζω NBJ 2020/ Rev. Nina Brown Johnson  REVISTED 11/07/2021