Saturday, April 21, 2012

Promises

"But let all those who take refuge and put their trust in You rejoice; let them ever sing and shout for joy, because You make a covering over them and defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You and be in high spirits." (Psalm 5:11 AMP)
 
God has made a covering over us.  Picture a giant, golf-sized umbrella over your head.  He covers us.  It is not always easy to trust Him in every circumstance, but He IS there - over us.  When we submit to Him, we give Him permission to hold His umbrella over our heads, wherever we go.  
 
In the midst of a physical battle, I felt barraged by hell's rocks of fury.  I was exhausted and found myself wondering about the presence of heaven in all of it.  Most of us have been there.  If you have not, maybe you will.  I do not wish it on anyone, but we find ourselves stronger and better rooted on the other side of these struggles.
 
Well, with my heart wavering, the Lord showed me a picture of His covering and the lie that brought about hopelessness.  I saw a huge, rainbow umbrella being held up over my head.  I knew the umbrella was beautiful and had great strength, however, I feared that the storm of rocks and debris, falling from the sky, would punch through and hurt me.  I looked up to check the umbrella, and I saw large holes, bigger than the size of my fist, several places in the umbrella.  My shoulders went up to my ears as I braced myself for impact.  I heard the Lord tell me to look again at the covering over me.  Upon a more careful examination, I realized that a transparent covering was over  the gaping areas that caused me to fear.  My heart understood that the enemy had deceived me into thinking that the umbrella was insufficient to carry me through the storm.  It was an illusion.  The truth was that I was protected. 
 
When I was growing up, my dad insisted that we have "golf-umbrellas" to use in the rain.  At first, I was embarrassed to use them, for they were absolutely huge and were alternating blocks of white and black or green and white.  I felt like a was holding a zebra over my head.  They became the envy of my classmates, for anyone using one never got a drop on them and there was room for three to five students underneath.  I soon realized that I had been given a treasure by my father.
 
We can feel peculiar.  We are God's children.  He long ago made promises to those that are His.  Sin punched holes in the original contract, but Christ was there to spread His body to cover over. 
 
As I was teaching an adult Sunday school class last week, I shared the umbrella picture with them.  I said I hadn't quite figured out the symbolism of the colors, and a wise gentleman reminded us of the rainbow for Noah.  It represented His promise. 
 
God's umbrella over us is beautiful, but it is like a translucent, better than NASA version of material.  We are talking about far beyond Sci-Fi.  He is God!  His love contains His wonderful promises, interwoven in the covenant He made with us.  We have been given a gift beyond comparison.  Remember the rainbow today.

No comments:

Post a Comment


Follow This Blog

Translate