How Shall We Now Live, 14: A Time to Walk Away and a Time to “Shelter Beneath God’s Wings” (Psalm 91:4)

Phyllis Beveridge Nissila

Perhaps this is a very good time to recall both the good news and the warnings embedded in Ecclesiastes chapter 3:

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

We live in a dynamic world ever dominated by the push-pull of good and evil on a fluid spectrum, but here in 2021 many would add: as never before.

It behooves us especially today, I think, to remain particularly vigilant and diligent regarding the “great commision” tasks assigned each of us at home, school, and/or work, not taking the “good times” for granted and not being surprised when Satan strikes again–or in many places at once–he who ever “prowls around like a hungry lion looking for someone to devour”.

Because it seems like just now he’s all about gulping down whole civilizations.

In such a bottom up, top down, and inside out lawless time as this, there seems a “new normal” that daily reveals more hard hearts, dim eyes, and dull ears (even seemingly seared consciences) while being as dangerous–if not more so–than even the days of the global conflicts of the last century.

It seems we’ve slipped pretty far to the edge of the wicked side on the spectrum of good and evil.

But how to get close to and stay beneath “God’s wings” is the question.

Consider (emphasis added):

“Incline your ear and come to Me.
Listen, that you may live; (Isaiah 55:3)

I love those who love me and those who seek me find me. (Psalm 8:17),

By…

(Drawing) nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you…(by cleansing) your hands…(purifying) your hearts.” (James 4:8). In a nuthsell: by turning to, or back to, Jesus Christ.

Because

[He] so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Frustration and hopelessness might assail at every turn these days, but “it ain’t over” til the last three chapters of the Book of Revelation. (Now there’s a contrast of BIBLICAL proportions!)

Keep “looking upward,” stay in the Word of God, and carry on, for here is one more precious promise:

“I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

~~~~~

*On the how and why to put faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, read here, and on a scholarly consensus on the prophecies for our day, read here.

**From Matthew Poole’s commentary on John 16:33:

be of good cheer, ( saith Jesus),

I have overcome the world; where by world is to be understood, all temptations from it, whether from the flatteries or from the frowns and troubles of it. We are said to overcome the world, but we overcome it as soldiers, fighting under Christ, who is the Captain of our salvation, and his victory is our victory, 1Jo 4:4 5:4,5. Christ overcame the prince of the world, and cast him out, as we heard before; and he hath overcome sin, and we in him, in the midst of all tribulations, are more than conquerors through him that loved us, Romans 8:37. This was our Saviour’s last sermon which we have upon sacred record in holy writ.

BONUS

Here is a free devotional based on all the verses from Psalm 91 with more on the topic of God’s care and His rescue power in the lives of all who seek shelter in Him.