It began to rain heavily in the forest. Trees were uprooted, small plants were washed away and it was muddy water all around! A bird kept flying around to find shelter along with its friends. She flew towards a high tree and found a small hole in it. She invited her friends to be with her as well. But they rejected her idea and said, “Look below, the tree is near the river and the strong flow of the water will uproot the tree.” Saying this, they flew away. The bird was exhausted and planned to stay in the tree. Time went by, the rain subdued and things were getting to normal. Some of her bird friends came back to her and said, “We lost some of our friends in the rain as the tree they found for shelter got washed away in the flood. Happy that you are safe.” The bird replied, “I have seen this tree before and I trusted its root, not the branches that swayed in the wind!”
We read in Psalm 11, “In the Lord I put my trust; How can you say to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your mountain”?”, where the Psalmist David takes a decision to put his trust in the LORD. He wrote this Psalm when he was a fugitive, running away from King Saul. Trusting GOD strengthens our heart. Though you are a fugitive, your heart can be at rest if you have confidence in Him. The world may tempt you to flee and find safety elsewhere when they look at your outward situations. They don’t see your heart that is waiting upon the promises of GOD.
Verse 1 is not just a prayer, it is a proclamation of David’s confidence, “I know in whom I trust; He is able to deliver me!”
The deliverance we always wish is escape from the situation. But sometimes GOD allows situations to ‘engulf’ us for our purification and to show us that He is still faithful even if the situation has drowned us.
Jonah had to be in the fish’s stomach to know that GOD’s plan can never be thwarted and that time was utilised for his cleansing. The world may call him a prophet who drowned in the sea, but in the accounts of GOD, he is a prophet who has repented. Yes! Sometimes we need to drown in the weighing down situation to know His plans. The best ways ahead are hidden beneath the raging storms of our lives and we need to drown to find it. None in this world can comprehend what GOD has set for us and He always has a way out!
And in verse 3, David says, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” There is nothing a man can do when his foundations are gone. But a righteous man’s hope is, “The Lord is in His holy temple, The Lord’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.” Yes! There is a GOD who looks at us with mercy and cares for us. What the world says is true because they see the dilapidated foundations, and they may have questions about our future too. When this happens, ask them to look up where the mighty hands of the LORD hold us up. Point them to GOD to whom we hold on. “The LORD is in His holy place!”
Though our foundations are gone, His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the children of men. Keep trusting GOD. Oh taste and see, that the LORD is good.
GOD bless you!
