 |
 |
| Pastor's Corner |
| Rev. Douglas Hasty |
| NIV Psalms 91:1-2
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." The summer is rolling along and August is almost here; with August comes the beginning of school. I like a phrase that Chuck Swindoll frequently uses: "This is no time for wimps!" Going back to school is serious business. You have to be mentally sharp and ready to buckle down and work hard. You have to keep the prize of your goal in front of you. You want a good education so that you can be a valuable instrument in God's hands. This is no time for wimps! Elijah wasn't a wimp. God sent Elijah to stand before King Ahab and announce a drought. Next, God took him out of the public eye and told him to hide by the brook at Kerith. While he was there, the ravens fed him twice a day and he drank cool water from the brook-then the brook dried up. At Kerith Elijah began to learn what it means to trust in the Lord. There he developed a deep relationship with the Lord. Next, God sent Elijah to Zarephath to be in the refiner's fire. When he got there he found a widow and her son on the verge of starvation. By faith the bowl of flour and the jug of oil never ran out. Each and every day God provided for their needs. Then one day the boy became sick, he stopped breathing and he died. The woman blames Elijah for the worst thing that has ever happened to her: the death of her beloved son. Then Elijah, the man of God, took the body of the dead boy in his arms and silently climbed the stairway to the room where he had been doing battle before God on a regular basis. I believe that Elijah had spent hours, even days, on his knees in that room. I believe he had formed that habit back at camp Kerith while alone with God, day-in and day-out. Do you have a room like that-a place where you meet with God? Do you have a quiet retreat where you and the Lord do regular business together? If you don't I strongly urge you to find a place where you can pour out your heart to the Lord, pray and not be interrupted. Without it, you'll lack the necessary steel in the foundation of your faith. "Then he cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?" (1 Kings 17:20) Alone in the shadow of the Almighty-that's where we fight such battles. Elijah is able to be completely candid with his God because he's developed a deep relationship with God over time in his quiet place during hours of prayer. "And he cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this boy's life return to him!" (vs. 21). That was some prayer. "Lord, I'm asking you to perform the impossible." Then he waited, trusting in the Lord. Some of you may be in the process of placing your own life before the Lord in this way. Things are critical, and only a miracle can breathe new life into your situation. So you go to your special place and you stand in the shadow of the Almighty, and you lay it out before Him, prostrating yourself before the Lord, pleading for His intervention, trusting completely in His miraculous power, leaning not on your own understanding. Swindoll asks this pointed question: Can you make these four statements: 1. I am here by God's appointment. 2. I am in His keeping. 3. I am under His training. 4. He will show me His purpose in His time. By God's appointment, in God's keeping, under His training, for His time. What an outstanding summary of what it means to trust in the Lord will all your heart. This is no time for wimps! Grace & Peace! Doug |