Wednesday, May 26

He's Got The Whole World...



I was talking to a friend of mine today, and she mentioned that she’s been kinda down lately. Life has changed dramatically for her over the last several weeks, and while the changes are mostly wonderful, they are still changes… and sometimes those are tough to deal with no matter what they are.

I remembered a verse that my friend Kris sent me when, as I was dealing with a cruddy day myself, I asked for some encouraging reminders of God’s love. I find myself returning to it over and over…

Deuteronomy 33:27 - The eternal God is your refuge, and His everlasting arms are under you.

When I first read this verse, it seemed almost trite, or too simple – something that I could have read and not really absorbed. But when I thought about it for a bit, I realized a few really cool things using good ol’ Dictionary.com.

Eternal = ceaseless, not subject to change
God does not stop. His love and care and concern for us are continuous and forever. And ever. And ever. And NOTHING can ever change that. He is ALWAYS the same.

Refuge = a place of shelter, protection, or safety
For some reason, this word always prompts the visual image of getting caught in a rainstorm and running inside somewhere to take cover. The kind of place where it’s warm and dry, where you kinda sigh in relief once you get there – and hopefully there’s a pot of fresh coffee brewing. And you know you’re safe. And you just feel mmmmmm…That’s the kind of refuge God is for us – a place where we can come in out of the rain and just cozy up to Him and let Him protect us.

Everlasting = forever
See Eternal above. Do you think God used “eternal” and “everlasting” in the same sentence for His own benefit? I think He was trying to stress to us that He means He is serious when it comes to ALWAYS being by our side – even when we don’t want Him there…

Under = beneath and covered by
I am slightly embarrassed to say that I, in all of my English major glory, never realized that “under” was two-fold: beneath AND covered by. So, the interpretation of the latter part of this verse is basically, “His everlasting arms are beneath and covered by you.” So the picture here is not so much that he is beside us, but that he is literally beneath us, supporting us, sometimes even to the point that He is covered up so we don’t see Him. But He is still there, lifting us up. Disney put out this cartoon - it might have been Fantasia, that features a hippo in a ballerina costume dancing with a crocodile.. and she fell on top of him, and it was all he could do to push her back up again. I guess it might not be that dramatic (or that terrifying for God), but it gets the idea across. Ha ha!

I wonder why it’s so hard to trust Him when he reminds us again and again that He’s got our backs.
I wonder why we are fearful to give things over to Him when he proves Himself over and over.
I wonder How many times I should have thanked Him and didn’t…

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