Shelter and Tower

The Judean wilderness is about fifteen miles wide. It drops some four thousand feet from the hills down to the Dead Sea, and there are almost no trees in it.

So in that country, shade comes from the shape of the land itself. A rock ledge that hangs out over the path is more than scenery; it can be the difference between reaching your destination and not reaching it. Travellers found their way by those rocks. Rock badgers, which the King James calls conies, live in them, and the psalms notice: "the rocks for the conies." In Psalm 61 David says, "From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed." The next thing he asks for is a rock: "lead me to the rock that is higher than I."

Then comes verse 3, and it turns out he already knows the way there, because he has been there before: "For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy." "Hast been" is in the past tense, and that past tense holds up the whole psalm. David is not guessing what God might do. He is naming what God has already done. David holds on to that memory like a handhold while the current is still pulling at him. A rock you have sheltered under once is a rock you can find again in the dark.

So write down three times when you were sure it was all over, and it was not. Put dates beside them if you can find them. Keep the paper somewhere you will really see it, and read it the next time the dread arrives before you have even pulled into the driveway. Memory is a tool God gave you for days like that, and most of us leave it in a drawer. The God who sheltered you then is still your Rock today, and He is still higher than you.

Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 43 is How Long (Psalm 13:1).

All 365 readings in Daily Manna