shelter study

Below is taken from one day of our week-long "Shelter" bible study where we are examining Psalm 91 and what it means to "dwell in God's shelter". Enjoy and let me know if you'd like to see me post the rest of the days of the "Shelter" study.

There once was a king who announced a painting contest. He was building a new palace, and he wanted the main entrance hall to be decorated with a large work of art. The king envisioned his kingdom as a peaceful land, so whoever's painting best symbolized peace would win a large cash prize.

Over the next few months, hundreds of paintings arrived at the palace. The king decided on the top two. Before announcing a winner, he hung both paintings in the palace for public viewing.

The first painting was of a majestic lake, so tranquil and still that the lush hills behind it were perfectly mirrored in its reflection., The sky was a brilliant blue with soft, puffy clouds floating above. Wildflowers bursting with color outlined the lake, and a family of deer calmly grazed in a far meadow. All who saw it felt peace and happiness.

The second painting portrayed a tall mountain cliff, rugged and strong. A few small trees grew out of the cracks of the face of the cliff, with gnarled roots clinging for life. A foamy waterfall angrily crashed down the cliff and into the rocky land below. Above, dark ominous clouds loomed, and in the distance lightning flashed. Halfway up the cliff grew a small bush. In its branches, a bird sat in a nest apparently warming her eggs.

After several weeks, the king declared the second painting the winner. Confused and upset, the people asked the king to explain his decision. He said, "Peace is not the absence of conflict. Peace is a stae of mind. Those who experience peace have love in their hearts even when turmoil surrounds them."

Sometimes as Christians who have made the Lord our dwelling, we find ourselves on a scary rocky ledge with a dangerous storm looming overhead. That is the truth--that sometimes those of us that rely on God's promises of shelter and protection and deliverance find ourselves in situation wondering. "Where has my God gone?" "Where is God with His promise of MY shelter?"

We don't like to admit it, but it is true there are certain promises that at times seem to go unanswered. For instance, in Psalm 91 notice some of the things God promises for those of us that claim Him as our shelter:
"Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence."
"A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you."
"If you make the Most High your dwelling—even the LORD, who is my refuge, then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent."

But there are many in this world, many people who have truly "Made the Most High" their dwelling, that have had tragedy strike them. At first glance we might say the person whose wife is killed by a drunk driver was not sheltered well by God. Or we might tend to say that the person who has an accident that leaves him paralyzed did not experience the promise that "no harm will befall you." Or what about the family whose home is destroyed by a ferocious hurricane. Might we be inclined to question the promise of God that "no disaster will come near your tent"? This week you've been working and playing with children that might question these promises as well.

Disease, financial woes, loss of loved ones, violent attacks because of their Christian beliefs, etc.--it would be hard to find a Christian that has been untouched by trials in life. For some, these are deal breakers00they have been reason enough to walk away from the faith of their childhood or for others to prevent them from ever accepting the Christian faith in the first place.

God's promises for shelter in these and other verses seem clear. But there are other verses that seem equally clear that we need to take into consideration as well. Conider what Jesus said in John 16:33, "In this world you will have trouble."

Today there is a teaching (called the Health/Wealth Gospel) that says if you truly walk with the Lord, then God will give you everything you need and He will protect you from every unwanted thing that might make you uncomfortable or that could harm you. This teaching would take the promises of Psalm 91 at face value but would not easily deal with what Jesus said about us having trouble in this world. But we must take every teaching of the Bible into account to form our full understanding of all of its teaching. So how do we mesh these seemingly two contradictory teachings?

Let's face it, our lesson today can be summed up with the familiar yet troubling question. "Why do bad things happen to good people?" At its core, this is about the problem of evil in the world. If God truly does shelter us, then why did my dad lose his job during this economic crisis? If the promises of Psalm 91 are true then why did...? There are any number of ways to finish that question for which there seem to be no easy answers. And at the end of the day, those of us that seek the Lord as our shelter are wondering how God's promises apply in the midst of our questions and doubts.

I am naturally drawn to the challenging side of things. As a pastor I have sought to be faithful to preach and teach the promises of Scripture in the midst of trials and tragedies. So when we began talking about Shelter as the theme for this year and I read Pslm 91, my min naturally went to the people for whom these promises might appear to be empty. I don't find this an easy task, but I am compelled to help each of us wrestle with our questions.

First, I think it is important to remind ourselves that God's promises of shelter apply on the most profound level of eternal things. No matter what happens to us in this life, nothing and no one can snatch us out of God's hands. We are always His and always will be. We have our salvation which assures us protection from the evil one and eternal punishment, and assures us of entry into the presence of the Father of eternal joy. Nothing that happens in this life can hurt us at this level. That is the most profound shelter we can imagine.

Secondly, we must loosen our understanding of Psalm 91 a bit. Our understanding of these promises has to be shaped by the teaching of Jesus in John 16 and vice versa. We can't ignore one for the sake of the other. They are both true and both apply to us as followers of Christ. As we combine these two teachings, our understanding of shelter starts to change.

For instance think about the shelter that God provided for Jonah when he found himself thrown overboard and adrift at sea. The bible says that "God provided a great fish to swallow Jonah." I wonder if Jonah had the promises of Psalm 91 in the back of his mind as he sat in the belly of the big fish. I doubt that was the kind of shelter that came to his mind he studied Psalm 91 and yet can we say God didn't provide shelter for Jonah?

And so maybe shelter isn't so much about the nice house in the suburbs with four bedrooms and three baths. Maybe it isn't so much about NOT knowing what the inside of a hospital looks like. Maybe it has less to do with the avsence of uncomfortable and unwanted things in life but more to do with what the king said about peace in the story at the beginning of today's lesson. It is about something else that God offers in the midst of trouble--His peace, His presence, His joy, hope, faith, etc.

What Jesus said about trouble in John 16:33 is only part of His teaching there. The full verse says, "I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world." When we are "in" Jesus, we will always have peace no matter how many or how severe our troubles in this world. And this is why some of the 3 billion people in this world that live on $2 a day, or whose homes are crumbling around them, or who have been out of a job for four months or that live in a children's home can still be happy--they can still have peace. It is because their understanding of shelter is not about the absence of trouble, but through the "overcoming" power of Jesus they have found the joy and peace of God's presence in the midst of whatever happens in this world.


Reflection questions:
1. What trial that you have experienced in your life do you most want to talk to God about?
2. What do you think Jesus was referring when he said, "In this world you will have trouble?" How does this make you feel?