Flapping Scripture Pages. Wings. Feathers. It's Time to Soar, Sister!

My usual way of starting my personal devotion with Jesus in the early morning is to read one or two of the Psalms aloud.Yep. Whether I'm on my knees or just sitting on the floor I'm there with my Bible, my journal (in case inspiration pops in my head),  and my freshly brewed cup of organic coffee. I regularly read my Bible out loud because I know His Word has unlimited power and the Holy Spirit inside of me is going to respond to the hearing of God's Word. Don't believe me? Please look at Isaiah 55. 

"So as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, 

and do not return to it without watering the earth and 

making it flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower

 and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth; It will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." 

Isaiah 55:10-11.

Reading Psalm 139 aloud brings me into a sense of His presence even before I finish reading the 24 verses,  and I begin to worship Him and be comforted by the Word. Women who follow Jesus have His Holy Spirit living within us and we can't help but be tenderly, eternally touched by the Word. Whew. Yep.

And while I was still reading Psalm 139, thoughts started to flow. I was sensing how the reading of Scripture was stirring up my heart and comforting it. I began to think about the power of Scripture as well as the blessings of God's promises in it to provide, protect, and love us unconditionally!

Then a phrase popped in my head, "...if you make the Lord..." and I knew it was part of an actual verse but I didn't know where it was in Scripture. I quickly researched and found it in Psalm 91:9-11! Which says, 

"If you make the Most High your dwelling--even 

the LORD, who is my refuge--then no harm will 

befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. 

(v.11) For He will command His angels concerning 

you to guard you in all your ways."

And I began to get a fresh perspective as I took a much closer look at Psalm 91. We're living in violent, dark days and people are getting more and more desperate.

And you know what? God keeps telling us, "do not fear" and "I am with you always" and yet we're fearful and anxious.

I see in a new way we are too distracted to listen to God and hear Him tell us He is a refuge and will take care of us! 

But we have to go to Him and see for ourselves like the woman with the "issue of blood" (Mark 5:25) who said, "If I can just touch His cloak I"ll be healed." After she touched Him -- actually drew close to Him -- "she felt in her body she was healed."

But we won't and don't go to Him that dramatically. You know, we rarely will ignore everything and everyone around us and just go to Him. We fret instead. We're afraid of what people might think! 

But Scripture, oh, Scripture, points us to our Savior and shows us there really is only one place to go for safety and security. Psalm 91 paints the picture for us!

This Psalm talks about God being our Shelter (v.1), our refuge, and our fortress (v.2), that He'll cover us with His feathers and under His wings we'll find refuge (v.4)!

He'll command His angels concerning us to guard us in all our ways (v. 11)!

And as I was continuously turning pages of my Bible back and forth in my studying,  I was thinking how much it was like the flapping of wings. You know, like when a large group of people are looking up verses in their Bibles and you hear that fluttering sound of the pages! It's like the flapping of angels' wings! Such a beautiful sound!

And all of this led me to the question of: "Why in these troubled times are we not 'resting in the shadow of the Almighty' instead of freaking out?  Why aren't we letting Him cover us with His (metaphorical) feathers?

This was a new way to see that our wings of refuge are only found in the pages of Scripture! 

Jesus is the Word. 
("In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God, He was in the beginning with God." John 1:1-2.)

The Word teaches us truth. 
("I am the truth." John 14:6)

 The truth sets us free.("Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." John 8:32.)

 The truth of Scripture gives us wings to soar above our circumstances because we have made the "Most High our dwelling" and and we have "rest in the shelter of the Almighty!"

Yep. And not only that...then we can freely worship Him, "Because You are my help I sing in the shadow of Your wings." (Psalm 63:6)

Hallelujah! 

4 HIS glory,
Polly

Copyright 2015 totally devoted #4 by Polly Balint