A place of retreat
God’s love for us started at the beginning of time. His precision to detail and his foresight to our needs reflects his creativity and purpose of design. Everything he made was netted together in harmonious unity for our need.
His voice carried commands that gave birth to life. He transformed nothingness into usefulness. He separated the seas from the land.
He placed an expanse between heaven and the earth.
Darkness gave way to light which in turn gave way to days and weeks. Creatures were made. Man was made. And, everything that God beheld was declared excellent in every way. God, the mighty one, the powerful, and creator pulled off the miraculous to reveal his glory.
It was a creation fully loaded with perks. Perks such as garden-to-table food obtained from fruit-bearing trees and seed-bearing plants; beautiful beaches and skylines reflecting God’s nature; an earth with every kind of animal.
God of creation did all of this. It all belongs to him. And, he stands ready to protect all that he molded into existence.
In the book of Psalms, we can find David many times seeking this protection. He spoke honestly to God about his despair of being hunted by Saul and others. David knew, the creator would never step aside when His God-fearing creation was in distress.
That’s why in Psalms 46:1, David said, it didn’t matter if earthquakes shook the mountains into the sea. It didn’t matter if a tsunami caused the sea to roar. Let the oceans roar and foam; let the mountains tremble, David says.
God lives among His creation in good times and during hard times. David admitted to the commander in charge of earth and heaven that God was his refuge in all things.
He found retreat in his Savior. David knew no adversity could conquer him without the creator’s permission. In like manner, my deceased and widowed mother spent decades in the cotton-fields of Arkansas chopping and picking cotton, followed by a promotion years later to custodial work that fed and clothed eight children.
With this much pressure of survival, she and countless other women within her economic bracket could have easily missed their value to God. But, like David, they also sought protection in God.
The wage system provided below low minimum wages with no opportunity to keep any of the crops or food they sharecropped.
No doubt they saw others progressing while their life remained stagnant. They saw people living in extremely comfortable homes while their meager houses were patched and tattered.
Yet, still in their suffering they did everything right. They never let go of their faith in God. Their place to thrive was found in God. They were able to experience peace and joy regardless of their circumstances.
The God of Creation had not forgotten them, nor David. Their sweet fragrance of trust and perseverance caused God, in turn, to gaze downward to what He had made.
He saw their hardship. He knew their struggles. He saw their lack. And, He smiled in response to their endurance and trust. I liken this smile to a creation moment when God said, “it was very good.”
Your circumstances may not be good right now, but your faith can be very good in God’s eyes.
So, as you are going through, draw the attention of God in faith, and keep your eyes open for a safe place of retreat.
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Brenette Wilder of Lee’s Summit, Mo., (formerly of Altheimer, Ark.), is president of Kansas City Teen Summit. Her blog is available at wordstoinspire105953116.wordpress.com.