Inspirational Thoughts and Meditations
Last Thursday I had an appointment in town. The sky was cloudy and the wind had picked up when I left my house that afternoon so I remembered to bring my umbrella thinking it might rain. I don’t usually listen to the radio or check the weather forecasts so I had no idea what kind of storms were brewing in the area.
I asked God to watch over me and to protect my little dog while I was gone and to please keep any lightning or thunder away till I could get back home since Miss Phee, my little Yorkie, is so scared of storms.
The wind gusts grew stronger as I drove down the highway into town.
Ominous clouds gathered overhead but still I did not think I had anything to worry about.
And the sky didn’t seem too threatening and there was no rain, no thunder or lightning.
My head hurt dreadfully, but it always hurt whenever a storm came remotely near. I went to my appointment and just as it was time to leave, the employee got a strange expression on her face and ran out to the lobby. When I went to pay my bill she looked at me with that same odd expression. She seemed very worried. “You be careful going home, you hear..I’m gonna call and make sure you make it home safely..”
The receptionist glanced outside nervously and said the same thing to me. I wondered why they were fretting so much. Then I looked out the window.
The sky was dark and heavy with the most ominous looking clouds I have ever seen. The wind was raging. Someone mentioned that there had been terrible tornado like storms already passing through one of our neighboring towns.
I paid my bill and said, “I’ll be okay, I will pray my way home.”
The receptionist laughed nervously.
I looked out the window. It never occurred to me before I stepped out the door of the building that day that a storm could harm me.
I went to open the door to leave but the wind was so fierce I could barely get it to open.
Although my vehicle was only about 15 feet away, the wind threatened to knock me off my feet and blow me away. I prayed all the way to my car–it was as if I was in a battle with a force that was determined to destroy me.
When I finally got to my car and managed somehow to get the door open despite the gale fighting against me, suddenly I was thrown up into my SUV and the door slammed shut after me and all 4 doors automatically locked on their own! This was amazing since the battery for the remote for my keys has been dead for over a year now.
Then my vehicle started rocking back and forth by the force of the wind as if it was going to turn over.
I was terrified!
No one was in sight. Everyone else had been smart enough to stay inside the building.
So I did the only thing I could do– I cried out to Jesus to stop the wind just as He did on the Sea of Galilee for His terrified disciples 2000 years ago. I cried, “Jesus, Your word says You are the same yesterday, today, and forever! I told those people in there I was going to trust You to get me home safely! Please show them You are going to do just that! GOD, Don’t let this wind destroy me in this car! Please calm this wind to a whisper in the mighty name of Jesus, at whose name ALL THINGS MUST BOW, even the wind!!!”
I was so glad no one could see me yelling and praying for my life because I am sure I must have looked like~~who knows what!!! ~ but it does not matter.
God HEARD my prayer! That awful wind DID obey the Lord’s name; Jesus calmed that mighty wind to a whisper. Suddenly my car stopped rocking, and His Spirit calmed me down.
I glanced around and saw people slowly coming out of their hiding places. I could not stop thanking the Lord for His faithfulness as I prayed my way home. The Lord kept me safe though it was still raining cats and dogs. Our house never lost power and not one tree lost a limb. God kept kept His word to me.
According to News reports our area suffered from something called a Derecho Storm System last week. We had sustained winds of up to 70 mph. Our area and surrounding counties suffered extensive damage with 10,000 homes in the NRV alone without power. On Sunday when I wrote this, some people were still without electricity due to those fierce storms.
We serve a mighty, LIVING God. God’s word says that at the name of Jesus Christ all things must bow, in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. I saw living proof of that last week when The Lord calmed the mighty wind to a whisper before my eyes and kept me safe in the storm.
God never promises we won’t experience storms in our life. Nor does He promise that we won’t sometimes have to experience suffering as a result of those storms.
But if we will have faith and trust in Him, His word assures us that He will be with us in every storm and guide us safely home.
Romans 8:35-36, 37, 38-39
“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”
No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.
Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Gerrit van Honthorst: King David Playing the Harp
“For He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken.”~Psalm 34:20
Psalm 34 has always been one of my favorite Psalms. It begins with the introduction:
“A psalm of David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he left.”
David had been driven from his homeland by King Saul and pursued ruthlessly, his life always in danger.
After being hunted like a criminal for years, though he was an innocent man, one would think that David might really have lost his mind because of all his troubles. Yet he starts the Psalm off with: “I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak of His praises…” ~Psalm 34:1 The tenor of the whole psalm is one of triumph.
By the time we get to verse 20, “For He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken,” we have to wonder if David is talking about more than just literal bones. David was a man of war who had been in numerous violent battles. It is indeed possible that the Lord never allowed him to break any bones in his lifetime, for God can do anything, yet many God-fearing people have suffered broken bones since he penned this psalm.
Aside from this verse being a prophesy about Christ on the cross, (for David was a prophet as well as a king and many of his psalms contain prophesies about Jesus the Messiah); I believe this verse also has applications for each believer and that David was talking about more than literal bones.
I looked up the word David used in the bible for bones and discovered several meanings: “bone, by extension, the body; figuratively, the substance, the very life of one.”
I believe David is using bones as a metaphor for the very substance, the foundation of his life and that he is saying that God keeps all the various parts of his life together, no matter what his outward circumstances may be. For in the preceding verse he has written:
“The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.” ~(Psalm 34:19)
The idea of God holding things together, and by extension keeping everything under control, continues even into the New Testament for the author of Hebrews wrote: “The Son…holds everything together (sustains/upholds all things) with His powerful word.” (Hebrews 1:3 EXB)
St Paul wrote in the book of Colossians 1:17 “(Christ) is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
If we abide in Christ, He will hold our mind, our spirit, and our body together, for He is our peace. John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
We may not ever experience a total absence of conflict in this life, for Christ does not promise us this. He promises peace despite the raging storm. He will walk through the fire with us and hold us through the floods. (Isaiah 43:1-2)
We will overcome by faith and underneath us will be His powerful everlasting arms holding us together despite the raging winds that threaten to tear us asunder.
“Let not your hearts be troubled,” His voice comes over the waters.
“Do not be afraid. I will keep all your bones, I will hold you together. Trust Me.”
Christ will never reject those who seek Him. No matter who they are, or what they have or have not done, no matter what they need, whether it be forgiveness, healing, comfort, relief from pain, stress, fear, financial needs, a job…whatever the need. He will never turn away from them. He said to His disciples, “Those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them.” John 3:37
This is such a comforting thought. His love for all people is as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Today know that Christ will hear you if you cry out to Him. He is the healer of the brokenhearted, His word says. He hears the righteous when they cry out to Him and He binds up all their wounds.
Long ago David the Psalmist wrote: “I sought the Lord, and He answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles..” ~Psalm 34:4-6
Our God is no respecter of persons. What He did for the people of old He will do for us today. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever,” Hebrews 13:8 tells us.
God’s word says to come boldly to His throne with all our needs for we have a God who cares about each intimate detail of our lives. “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”~ Hebrews 4:16
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”~1 Peter 5:7
May the Lord Jesus Christ meet every need of every person reading this today. May He give you wisdom and direct you down the path toward His perfect will for your life. May you be blessed and filled with the assurance of His measureless love for you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Peaceangel Song 
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