Shelter

God has led me to some awesome, much overlooked books of the Bible lately. I usually tend towards the writings of Paul in the NT, but lately I've been spending some time in the minor prophets - Malachi and Zechariah to be exact. The themes of these books are "'Return to me and I will return to you,' says the Lord Almighty" (Mal 3:6) Yesterday God gave me a very clear visual of what that looks like. Imagine a shelter with a strong roof and foundation - that's God's word. Everything under that shelter is protected from destructive elements. Outside of his shelter there are forces ready to destroy and kill. I shouldn't go wherever I want hoping that God's shelter will be with me, and I shouldn't get distracted and wonder outside of the shelter. No, his shelter does not move and it does not change. He says in Zechariah "Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices. But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares the Lord" (Zec 1:4). Sometimes I wonder if we don't even know that our ways are evil or that we have evil practices in our lives. Maybe we've had well-meaning intentions or we've gotten caught up in a popular belief circulating in our culture. We've traded God's strong shelter for a weak umbrella. For too long we have not listened and paid attention to the Lord. We have aimlessly wondered outside the shelter making us vulnerable to the destructive forces of the storm.

Dear Lord, thank you for your shelter {your word} and providing safety under it. Please reveal to me where I am exposed to storms in all areas of my life - my marriage, motherhood, emotions, finances, and everywhere - and guide me back to your shelter. You have promised that once I return to you, you will return to me. Thank you for your promises and for fulfilling all your promises through your Word {Jesus Christ}.