Good morning! I grew up in a neighborhood in a New Jersey suburb where most of the streets were up and down, left and right. There were three main streets that fed into five other main roads which made up the development. When I first remember riding bikes in the street, my parents would always make us ride only to where they could see us. Then we got a little older, and as long as we stayed together we could go back to the block behind us and back around. Eventually, we got to a point where my parents were OK with us riding the whole neighborhood.
Now that I’m older and a parent, I see myself doing similar things for our boy. When he started riding his bike, we would always ride with him in the court next to our house. Then he began to ride in the court while we were in the backyard and could keep an eye on him. Then we started riding our small little neighborhood with him. Now, a big moment in our lives, we allowed him and his friend to go to another place in the neighborhood to ride and come back without us being with him. Of course we gave him guidelines to follow: stay together, watch for cars, call us if you have any issues, and come right back.
I think it was important now that he is getting older to show him that we trust him in a semi-controlled environment and allow him the freedom to choose to be obedient, or stray from what we have instructed him to do. I am happy to report that we did not have to go track him down, he did exactly what he was supposed to do! Then he actually asked if he could go again and he did!
The truth is… it was a little nerve racking allowing him to go by himself out of our sight with all the uncontrollable variables. It was a growing moment for both him and us as his parents. We have done our best to set up certain guardrails and boundaries so that he knows what is important to keep him safe.
God does the same thing for us! He has given us His Word to provide boundaries for our protection. I remember as a kid not understanding why we couldn’t ride to places where our parents couldn’t see us. But now as a parent I totally get it! It isn’t that I don’t want him to have fun exploring, its that I want to be sure he understands the proper actions to keep himself safe.
“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”
Psalm 91:1
I highly recommend taking a moment today to read Psalm 91 in its entirety today, there is so much encouragement and it reinforces our confidence in God’s protection for our lives. But in this first verse we can see that in order to rest in God’s Presence, we need to dwell in God’s Presence. It is not that God cannot protect us anywhere we go, it speaks more about remaining in constant awareness and communion with Him throughout your day.
God has given us His Wisdom to guide the way that we live and if we choose to go outside of His principles, we are simultaneously choosing to go outside of His protection!
“He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart”
Psalm 91:4
This verse provides such beautiful imagery of how God protects His children. He is so nurturing and provides a shield around us by covering us and wrapping us in His arms. There is nothing better when we are hurting or scared to have someone wrap their loving arms around us.
“He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.”
Psalm 91:15
This last verse I wanted to share this morning reminds us that when we call on God, He WILL answer us. It doesn’t say that we won’t go through trouble, but it reminds us that He WILL be with us in the trouble – and He WILL deliver us!
What an encouragement this morning to be reminded of God’s protection over our lives as we live in obedience to His Word. Things will not always make sense, things will not always be what we want; but God WILL be with us and we WILL get through to the other side when we rely on Him!
Heavenly Father, thank You for Your protection this morning! We can confidently walk outside of our house knowing that You go with us. Help us to remain in You and be obedient to the principles in Your Word. Thank You for the way that You love us! In Jesus Name – AMEN!
Be Transformed 