PHOTO: MARY VAN BALEN
You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
Say to the Lord, “My refuge and fortress,
my God in whom I trust.”
God will rescue you from the fowler’s snare,
from the destroying plague,
Will shelter you with pinions,
spread wings that you may take refuge;
God’s faithfulness is a protecting shield…
All who call upon me I will answer;
I will be with them in distress;
I will deliver them and give them honor..
Psalm 91, 1-4; 14-16
“Momma,” said a shaky voice on the telephone, “I am sick.”
No matter how far away they live or how mature my children are, when they are sick, they call their mother. Not that I can do anything physically for them. The daughter who owns this morning’s voice studies nine or ten hours from my home. Still, a mother’s voice is comforting. She may advise the sick one to take her temperature or to find someone to buy coke and chicken broth, what is most needed is knowledge of her momma’s presence and love.
While expressing the gamut of human emotions, the Psalms offer to us such knowledge of God. Today’s psalm reassures us that no matter where we are or what difficulties we face, God’s Presence and love are with us. Like a mother of a sick child, like a hen gathering her chicks, God shelters us under the divine wing.
My problem is trusting that. In the midst of uncertainty or suffering, when my children are struggling, when the world seems especially dark, believing in God’s protecting presence is not easy. I don’t see any solutions on the horizon. When I am wrestling with late night demons and can’t get to sleep, praying this psalm reminds me that answers are not my purview. I do my best, but in the end, I have to wait, and trust God loves me, my children, and this world, and will not let any of them be lost.
Reading these words is a little like my daughter calling me this morning and telling me she was sick. She knew she would have to resist the desire to gulp down a glass of water after a night of throwing up; she knew she would need to rest so her body could heal, but telling her mother, and knowing she cared, just hearing her voice, made the illness more bearable and her return to health seem more likely. Darkness is not so bleak and dawn not so far away when someone is waiting with you.
My prayer today is for trust in God’s protecting Presence. Like an infant trusts the adults in her live to take care of her, I want to trust God taking care of me, my family, and the world in which we live.
© 2010 Mary van Balen
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