A safe shelter

My salvation and honour depend on God;
he is my strong protector;
he is my shelter.
Trust in God at all times, my people.
Tell him all your troubles,for he is our refuge.
(verses 7, 8)

Read Psalm 62: 5-12

It was a cold and bleak day when we visited Cradle Mountain in Tasmania. A gentle sleet was falling, making the world look beautiful, but it was cold. The four of us had brought a picnic lunch, and we were delighted to find a shelter, a lovely hut that even had a coin – operated heater inside. What a delightful place to have lunch with our friends.

That journey to Cradle Mountain can be a picture of our journey through life. Our journey can be very beautiful, but we need a shelter where we and our friends can find protection from the cold. The psalm writer tells us that God provides us with shelter. He is our strong protector, who is always there for us.

I like the words, ‘Trust him at all times, my people’. They are both challenging and comforting and challenging because sometimes we like the luxury of feeling let down and being able to complain that we have been deserted, and comforting because we know the psalm writer would not have written these words if God was unreliable.

If you believe in the God that the psalm writer believes in and describes, then you are able to bring to him all your needs. Tell him all your troubles and simply believe that he will help you to work it all out.

Thank you, God, that I can trust in you at all times, that I can depend on you and put my hope in you. Help me to place all my troubles on you, and provide for me a safe shelter. Amen.

by Kevin Schmidt, in ‘God’s Peace for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2005)

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