Sheltering at home because of Corona Virus – Do you feel alone? Are you afraid? How should we feel? How should we respond? Will we ever see normal again? And will it be a normal we want or like?
Psalm 71 (subtitled: “Prayer of an Old Man for Deliverance) is a beautiful back and forth between who God is, and how we respond to Him. Here are some take-aways about God:
You are my God, my Lord, my Refuge, my Deliverer, my Rescuer, my Rock, my Fortress, my Hope, my Confidence, my Sustainer.
You have not and will not cast me off. You were with me at my birth. You are with me now. You have not and will not forsake me. You are the Lord who is with me – Yahweh Shammah.
You are my Helper, my Teacher, my Righteousness, my Heavenly/Eternal/Holy God, my Reviver who lifts me up, my Comforter. You are my Lord, my Life. You are my God.
How do I respond to Him? Psalm 71 suggests something like this:
I will take refuge in You. I will shelter in You, my Fortress, and stand firm on You, my Rock. I will continually hope in You, my Hope. I will be confident, for You have been and will be with me and never forsake me from birth to old age.
My praise is continually of You.
My mouth is filled with Your praise and Your glory – all day!
I will praise You even more.
I will declare Your righteousness, Your salvation, Your wondrous, mighty deeds. I can’t even “do the math” on Your righteousness, it reaches to the Heavens. You are the doer of great things!
In every trial, you are deliverer, life-bringer, soul reviver. (That’s a good one to remember during a pandemic, right?)
I will praise You with my guitar (don’t have and am not proficient on harp or lyre).
I will sing praises.
My lips will shout for joy (even though my throat remains a little tight from radiation treatment and tends to resist shouting – I will not be shut down).
My soul, redeemed by You, Lord, will by my tongue utter Your righteousness all day long!
How will you respond to God today? “Sheltering at home” because of the Corona Virus, are you feeling alone? Are you afraid? I hope this post helps you get past some of that. Even so, those are normal feelings. If you need someone to talk to, I’m available.
