I was reading an article this morning about the European debt crisis. European Union leaders are meeting tomorrow and Friday “to discuss ways to firewall and extinguish the European debt crisis raging within Greece and spreading fast to Spain and beyond.” One well-known billionaire financier, George Soros, says they have three days left to save the Euro.
People the world over are watching to see what will happen in Europe, because it will have a domino effect that will resonate to other countries, including the United States. And since we’re tottering under our own debt crisis, we’re not exactly in a position to handle more debt stress.
Millions in Europe are wondering where to run for cover financially, but it seems like there’s nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. This is especially true if they do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
However, if they have placed their lives in Jesus’ care, they have a covering–a tent, if you will–over their lives. It is a shelter from the storm:
For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle [shelter]
In the secret place of His tent He will hide me;
He will lift me up on a rock. (Psalm 27:5)
Psalm 27 is a wonderful description of what life looks like when you trust in God.
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the defense of my life; whom shall I dread?
We are living in a time with enormous uncertainty that is not limited only to our own country, but to the world at large. We must continually remind ourselves that God is with those who call upon the name of the Lord, and seek His face. While many feel the need to run and hide, there is only one place where we can find actual shelter from the oncoming financial storm.
There’s a beautiful rendering of God’s shelter in Isaiah 4:5-6. It’s a literal rendering of what Mount Zion will look like in the new world:
…then the Lord will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy. And there will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain.
This shelter is reserved for “everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 4:3) These are the people who have called upon the name of the Lord, who seek His face, who have accepted His Son Jesus as Lord and Savior. They are the ones whose names are recorded in the book of life.
It is the same today. There is shelter, but it is not extended over all. God earnestly desires for everyone to scurry under His tent, into His protection, away from the storms of the world that bear down on us.
This world can be frightening, but if we make the Lord God our covering, we are safe and secure. Look at God’s beautiful imagery that He gave to the prophet Isaiah:
For Thou hast been a defense for the helpless,
A defense for the needy in his distress,
A refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat;
For the breath of the ruthless is like a rain storm against a wall. (Isaiah 25:4)
The world is the rain storm. God is the wall. If you haven’t already, seek the shelter of His Son, Jesus Christ. Ask Him to be your Savior and get under His merciful covering. Then let the rains come. Let the thunder roar. He will keep you safe and secure.
