Mensa Otabil - Run to the Lord
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Psalm 63, verse 7: Because You are my help, therefore in the shadow of Your wings, I will rejoice. When you are in a crisis, when I find myself, all of us find ourselves in a crisis, where do we go? Where do we run for help? The Lord Himself is our help. The Lord is our strength; the Lord is our shelter, and He is the one who covers us. In the psalm, the psalmist uses the imagery of a mother hen whose wings cover the little chicks, and he says that’s how God is. Under the shadow of His wings, we rejoice; we go to take refuge under the shadow of His wings.
So, when we are in a crisis, when we are in trouble, there is a place we must run to. We don’t run to hide in a corner like Elijah did; we don’t run to hide away from everybody, but we run to hide in the Lord. We run to the Lord and hide under the shadow of His wings. You know, sometimes when life gets tough, you just need to find a place to be to renew your strength. Even in boxing matches, when people are taking punches in a round, there is the end of the round, and you go to your corner to get refreshed to fight again. That’s what happens in life. We’re not going to abandon the battles of life, but there must always be a place to go to find your strength, and that is to the Lord.
So, how do we run to the Lord? First, we run to the Lord when we pray. Prayer brings us into the presence of the Lord, and there in the presence of the Lord, we are able to talk to Him and unburden our hearts. This kind of prayer that is truly effective must be heartfelt, must be honest; it must not just be a rattling off of things just to fill up a quarter of time, but really opening your heart and telling the Lord about the fears, the anxieties, and the worries of your heart, and the Lord hears you.
So in prayer, we take refuge in the Lord; we find rest in the Lord. Secondly, we run to the Lord when we read the Bible. Anytime we read the Bible, we are opening our hearts up to the Word of God, to God’s voice, to what God is saying to us. In the days of Elijah, He would speak to them sometimes through an audible voice, but all of that has been recorded for us. So anytime we go to the Bible, we hear God’s voice speaking to us in the present tense; we see how He spoke to other people who were in situations like ours, and in that place, we also find the Word of God for ourselves. We run to the Lord when we pray, we run to the Lord when we study the Scriptures, and we run to the Lord when we are in fellowship with other believers.
When we go to church or to a Christian fellowship or gathering where the believers are-Jesus says, «Where two or three are gathered, I am there.» In the fellowship of believers, Christ is there, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit operate. In that gathering, God can use somebody in the church, somebody in your prayer group, or someone in your cell group to minister life to you, because the body of Christ is the strength of Christ. When we are part of the body of Christ, when we are in the assembly of believers, the strength of the Lord moves out and touches us.
So when you are in trouble, don’t stay away from the gathering of the church. Be in the house of the Lord, among other believers. Read your Bible, stay in prayer, remain in the presence of the Lord, and God will gather you as a mother hen gathers her chicks. Under His wings, He will cover you, protect you, deliver you, and help you. May help come to you in Jesus' name. Let us pray. Say with me: Heavenly Father, You are my hiding place. Under the shadow of Your wings, I find my strength. In Jesus' name, amen.