David

A Psalm of David, while he was in hiding.

“Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord that to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.” Psalm 118:4-9

We traveled to Ein Gedi to see the land and all of the mountains around. We are traveling through an extremely arid climate where everything went from being lush and green to being sandy and dry. We pull into the park and we begin to hike up the mountain towards the source of a waterfall. Along the way we are looking all around us and are noticing the caves that dot the mountainsides. These are the same caves where David came to hide from Saul in 1 Samuel. King Saul is ticked off at David and he has come to hunt him down. He wants him dead. Where does David go? To Ein Gedi. He and his men are hiding in the caves there when all of a sudden Saul comes along. Saul enters the cave that David and his men are hiding in to “cover his feet”, or “use the facilities”. David cuts the corner of King Saul’s robe and lets him live.

These are the caves where David was hiding. This is the same location that it is thought that David wrote Psalm 118 from. It gives a new perspective to the thought “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in __________” Here is David hiding in these unbelievable caves and yet he cries out from the depths of his soul, it is better to take refuge in the Lord! Those rocks are so strong, and protective. That is why David was there after all. Yet, those rocks do not hold a candle to the strength, the power, nor the refuge that our God will provide for His children.

Here’s the crazy thing. Many of us turn towards our own caves, hideouts, tree forts or safe places when we enter into times of trouble. Can you say along with David, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in _____________”

I am learning to…

~Peter

This past Sunday we were traveling home from our winter retreat on 611 up by the river. If you have been on that stretch of the road you know that it is tight enough for just two cars to pass by one another. Now let’s put a bus into that mix. That is an even tighter squeeze. As I said, we were driving home on this very tight roadway when we come upon a man jogging on the side of the road. Fortunately for us their was not a car coming in the oncoming lane so we easily passed by him. I have two questions for this guy…

1. Why are you running in the freezing cold with spandex on?

2. Out of all the possible roadways and trails available to you, why did you choose this particular road to run on?

On this Tuesday morning neither question truly matters to me. However, I can’t get the image of that man running out of my head. I’m not a runner. I wish I was. In fact there is something inside of me that is telling me that I probably should start running. (That’s beside the point.) BUT, I think that many of us are professional runners and we might not even know it.

When finances get really tight and the bills start stacking up on your counter where do you run?
When a friend hurts you and leaves you out to dry where do you run?
When your spouse sits you down for a difficult “chat” where do you run?
When you find out that your teenager is going to be a mother/father where do you run?
When you get called into your bosses office and find out that as of Friday you will be unemployed where do you run?
When the Dr gets the test results and tells you “it’s not good” where do you run?
When life takes a turn for whatever you could have least expected or wanted where do you run?

To often many of us run and hide, run for the bottle, run towards that affair, run for that chemical high, and run to something that can only protect you for a few moments. We will frequently choose man made solutions that can and will only provide man sized results.

In Psalm 11 we see that King David has some advisors that have given him the counsel of running and hiding from his problems. David however is not tricked by the counsel of these men. Check this out:

“In the Lord I take refuge; How can you say to my soul, ‘flee as a bird to your mountain;'” Psalm 11:1

David writes this about God, the Lord, the one in whom he takes his refuge;

“The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.”

And…

“For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness; The upright will behold His face.” Psalm 11:5 & 7

David knew that whatever he would run to could only let him down and disappoint him. He chooses to run to God. He chooses to run to the refuge that God provides. See check this out… God is never shaken, He is never absent, and He is never unaware. David has it right. He says from the get go, I run to God.

I don’t know what David’s circumstances are that prompted this Psalm. But I know where David chooses to run.

I don’t know your circumstances, but I know where you should run. Why don’t you run to God, the one who can and will produce God sized results!

I think we are all running. Where are you running to? What are you running towards?

~Peter

Caves, Hideouts and Tree Forts

Runners in Spandex