Last night was a really good night. We had our VBS Closing Program at church, the kids had a great week and it was so cool to end on an up note like that. We had pizza with friends before and ice cream after…pretty much your quintessential “good” evening.
We got back to our friends house and my son, who usually is not all that “perceptive” shall we say, looks towards their back door and in a very serious tone, for a 12 year old, says:
What is THAT?
I look and I see the biggest black bear I have ever seen (and living here I’ve seen a lot) 20 feet away from us and we are headed right towards it in the pitch dark with 4 kids. YIKES, to say the least. I announce to all that there is a bear over there, and we need to get back in the Man Truck immediately. Thankfully, we all do – but the kids…were kinda shaken up. I’ll admit it, I had a few seconds of near panic when I thought of how I was going to wrestle my daughter away from a giant angry bear…but thankfully, my wrestling skills remained safely in their holster.
In my chronological read this morning, I was in Isaiah 26, and found some great nuggets:
3(D) You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
4Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.
When we made it back to the truck last night and watched the giant bear walk by us we felt safe…we were in the truck, a “rock” so to speak, so when I read that the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock, I could quickly relate. God wants us to find our refuge in Him and Him alone. Not anything else of this world, but Him. Our reward for turning to Him? He will keep us in perfect peace. (Phil 4:7) AMEN.
It’s so good to pray thru the scriptures. This is a great one to do that with. Pray that you truly consider God to be your Rock, that the desire of your heart is toward Him and His Word. That as Isaiah goes on to say:
(H) your name and remembrance
are the desire of our soul.
9My soul yearns for you in the night;
my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
John Piper wrote a great post called “Nine Ways to Pray for Your Soul, Praying in Sync With the Way God Works, one that I turn to again and again to keep my soul yearning for Him and to earnestly seek him. I strongly recommend reading, meditating, and praying thru it. Life in this world will quickly take our eyes off of our Father and His Word, we need to be constantly vigilant in guarding our souls to keep Christ the center.
…cuz, sheesh…you never know what is lurking around the next corner in the pitch dark!
Mike Ruel 