IN THE SECRET PLACE

part 4

Stomping the Cobra

            “Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord is an everlasting Rock.” Is. 26:4 Amp.

We have talked about bailing in God’s arms, letting go and flinging our arms out in an abandon of trust. We’ve seen that God does not always take us out of the trial, but He is always with us in the trial. Everything that comes into our lives is filtered through the feathers of His wings that cover us. He is working for our good no matter how bad the situation. We can have His perfect peace, not the peace of the world, but peace in spite of difficult circumstances and turmoil. Peace that comes from being connected to God and being aware of His presence at all times. We have learned that all of this is the secret place.

Now I want to talk about trouble. When trouble hits prayer should be on my lips. Not always true, but I’m trying. Trouble or bad news, that phone call we always dreaded, can send the stress level way off the charts.

With me, it seems the bigger the problem, the harder the fall, the quicker I call. Terrible trouble sends me to my knees and crying out to Jesus right now. It’s the little things I think I can take care of myself. The irritating nagging troubles that build and boil that I strive with. The more I strive, figure, fret and worry, the more stress builds in the pot. It’s only after the pot blows that I throw the whole mess at the feet of Jesus.

One time I was canning pickled beets in a water bath canner. For those of you who don’t can, that’s just a pot of water that boils for a long time to seal jars of beets. Not a pressure cooker, thank the Lord! After turning on the burner to the right setting, I went upstairs and got on my PC, writing no doubt, and promptly forgot all about the pot.

That was when we were living in a large two story house on a ranch and I could not hear the boiling. How long it was I don’t know, I tend to loose track of time when I’m writing, but the pot cooked and steamed away and ran out of water.

Suddenly below, I heard a big BANG! Oh NO! Rushing down the stairs and into the kitchen, I skidded to a sudden halt.   The lid had blown completely off the pot. Jars had burst, beets exploded all over the kitchen.

There was red splattered everywhere! On the stove, on the counters, on the ceiling, on the refrigerator, even on the white curtains. That were not mine, by the way. It looked like a mass bombing.

That was me all over the place! Pressure building, anger steaming, stress mounting until I explode. And right then I was about to blow. Steam must have rolled out of my ears, my breath came in gasps and my eyes were bulging.

Then a quiet voice behind me said, “I’ve got this. I’ll take care of it.” It was John, of course, bless his heart!

That’s exactly what Jesus says. Right beside me He whispers, “I’ve got you. I’ll take care of it.”

When we lost Stephen, in the worst of things, when grief, pain, shock and stress squeezed the very breath from me, Jesus whispered, “I’m here, I’ve got you. Lean on Me.”

I said, “Thank You Jesus,” over and over. Seems strange I know, but from the beginning, I cried out to Jesus and I felt His presence. I knew He was there.

It wasn’t always so with me, there were times in my past when trouble hit that I hit the ceiling. Or the floor, or the walls. I certainly didn’t say thank you.

But you see many times God has proven Himself to be faithful. He has my back. This I know for certain. This Rock I stand on. In good times and in bad.

In saying Thank you, Jesus, I recognize His presence, I accept the workings of His hand in my life, I acknowledge His power and all-knowing wisdom. I lean on Him. I trust Him. In the worst of times, peace flooded my soul and stress was strangled.

Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You. Because he trusts in You.”

Oh, I don’t always trust Him. Not all the time. Stress sneaks in like a snake slithering past the door. Worry has a way of tip-toeing by my defenses and worming its way into my thoughts. My mind naws on something like a dog chewing a bone. I chomp away, but it doesn’t get resolved. I have no solution. Like a boiling pot, stress builds until I’m about to blow.

Fretting is a joy robber. Anxiety steals my peace. It happens in an instant. I know my God is faithful, I’ve seen Him work in my life many times. Why do I let fear and doubt smother my contentment?

“Whose mind is stayed on you.” My eyes stray from my Savior’s face to my troubles. I don’t see His loving eyes, I only see the beets splattered all over my kitchen. In the big things, I run to Him immediately, but in the small things, I forget He has my back. Even in this. Even if it seems small, trivial, or inconsequential. He has it. He will take care of it.

An argument with my husband, a misunderstanding with a friend, a problem in my imagination that probably isn’t really there, a preconceived trouble that never happens, even these small serpents He will trample.

Before the pot boils dry and explodes I need to give it to Him. Lay the whole thing at His feet. Leave it in His hands. Listen to His voice when He says, “I have your back. I’ll take care of it.” And trust Him. Lean on Him.

In Psalms 91 it says I can stomp on the cobra of stress and trample the lion of anxiety, but, it’s all about trusting Him. Running to the hiding place under the wings of the Almighty God.

This is the Secret Place of the Most High.

“I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress. My God, in Him I will trust.” Ps. 91:2

 In the Secret Place

Of the Most High God

I will seek Your face

I will stomp the cobra

On the lion I will trod

I will find Your peace.

Under the wings

Of the Almighty God

I will make my dwelling place.

Rock cabin in TRN park, the perfect resting place