Psalm 139:1-6
You have looked deep
into my heart, Lord,
and you know all about me.
You know when I am resting
or when I am working,
and from heaven
you discover my thoughts.
You notice everything I do
and everywhere I go.
Before I even speak a word,
you know what I will say,
and with your powerful arm
you protect me
from every side.
I can’t understand all of this!
Such wonderful knowledge
is far above me.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
We recently attended a high school reunion, where we visited with fellow students and alumni. I greeted my cousin, Jim, who is about 8 years older than I. As he gave me a hug, someone snapped our picture, and Jim said, “I used to sit on the couch at her grandmother’s on stormy nights and hold her in a blanket.” Indeed, I remember those nights and snuggling in my cousin’s lap.
Like countless children throughout the South, I spent many night-time hours of my childhood sheltered in my grandparent’s storm cellar. The women and children would hunker down in the cellar as a storm approached, while the men stood on my grandparents’ screened porch and “watched the clouds”. Those summer nights got long and tiresome, and the cellar was cool and damp.
My sister, brother and I had to make a few trips inside to use the restroom, and often, my cousin Jim was recruited to wrap one of us in a quilt or blanket and carry us inside and back. Jim was in high school then, and I thought he was the bravest, most handsome guy around. I especially loved it when he would sit on the couch with me for a while and delay my return to the dark, dank cellar! All Jim had to do was hold out his arms, and I was ready to crawl up in his lap and snuggle!
When you are little, the powerful arms of someone older and stronger are comforting… and most of us readily accepted this protection. But here’s the thing… we understood the security firsthand. We felt it. We could reach out and physically touch these people. We knew them in the flesh… we fully trusted them because we could literally be in their presence and under their care.
God offers us a love and protection that far exceeds anything a precious cousin, parent, grandparent or other caring human being could offer. He knows us – inside and out – and He knows everything about us. His powerful arms are outstretched to embrace and protect us, and He wants to be there for us in all things. But we have a choice. He stands with his arms open wide… but we decide whether to crawl into His lap and snuggle there.
The amazing, incredible, inexplicable fact is that God has chosen us! He wants to give us His love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, protection… and even Eternal Life in His presence! But the question is…will we choose Him in return? Do we fully trust Him… and are we willing to let go and allow Him to love us in this manner? It sounds like an easy question to answer… but in truth, many find the choice difficult to make. What about you? Are you ready to surrender to God and allow Him to fully love and protect you? Is today the day you truly “let go and let God”? Shouldn’t it be?
©2013 Debbie Robus
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