Trusting in Psalm 91

Key Verse: “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” (NKJV) 

I got the call that all moms dread they will get.

“Mom, I tested positive for Covid. I am ok and have no symptoms, but…”

My daughter spoke other words in the conversation, but my brain stopped processing after that. It took a few moments for me to catch up in the conversation because suddenly, everything was in slow motion. By the time news hit my heart, everything else had stopped.

What do you do in that kind of moment?  Moments when it seems the ground you were standing on without warning gets yanked out from under your feet.  

When my mind caught up with the situation, I thought of the scripture verse I had quietly turned to earlier in the morning. I had gone to spend time in God’s word and had opened my Bible to Psalm 91 but hadn’t had time to read yet taking care of some other “without warning” things.  Some mornings start like a roaring lion. You do well to hold on not to get blown off course before you even take the first step. 

When I had time, I went back and opened my Bible with the worn cover, wrinkled pages with marked-up margins.  Reminders of other mornings when my world felt shaky, and I was feeling overwhelmed. Other mornings when I was facing situations, and I had no clue what to do. Yet, the pages within that worn-out book had weathered me through many a storm.  I would take a deep breath and exhale because this same book would be my compass and anchor this time as well. The Captain who sails with me was still onboard. The Peace Speaker was still in charge of the waves.

The most important thing I have learned that I can count on is that my heavenly Father always gets my family and me through. He has a mile-long track record with my family—moments of uncertainty, long nights of tears, hurting hearts, a broken elbow, and even some disagreements. And then there were the other more serious situations that were more dangerous to a heart bent on serving God in faith. Because living a life of faith means leaving no room for doubt. My family has weathered through many faith-trying things, things like cancer and the passing of two special loved ones in less than a year. Yet, Jesus is still navigating us through the choppy waters and channels of Multiple Sclerosis. 

The Words of Psalm 91: 1-2 (NJKV) say it this way, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord; He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”

And that word that is called trust?  A life of faith will come down to that one word at some point. You either believe God enough to trust Him with your life, or you don’t. Either you believe He will take care of those most important to you, or you don’t. I think sometimes God allows the scary stuff in life to happen to show us the condition of our hearts. So likewise, the state of our hearts will reveal our level of trust. 

He already knows that somewhere down deep in the clutter of our hearts, we truly yearn to believe. So, He sends us the storms of life to show us how to use our anchor and hoist up our sails. To teach us how to remain standing on deck when the waves wash over the rails. You learn you must stay on the ship even when feeling like Paul did in the middle of his most famous boat ride. After many days of seeing neither sun nor stars, it would look like all hope that anyone would rescue you were lost. So you hoisted up the sails and hoped for the day.

God never created the ship called Zion to sit safely in the shallow end. Instead, he designed it to sail us through stormy waters with waves rising over our heads. It will even keep us safe and steady while we wait out the long days when we barely move at all. 

This storm my family faces will toss us to and fro in days to come, but I will put my trust in the Captain of my ship. He will not fail to get us through. He will guide my worried mama heart and daughter to the harbor safely this time.

We will arrive safely at our destination.

See you, friend, in the field and on the shore,

Susan

*Written the day my daughter called to let me know she had tested positive for Covid. God, in his great love and mercy, brought her through with minimal symptoms. He also protected the rest of my family from contracting it thus far. I am humbled and thankful.