Psalm 31:20

Psalm 31:20

In the shelter of Your presence     

Two wonderful promises emerge from this verse of the Psalm. The first is that the Lord shelters us and hides us from human intrigues. So many people today have lost innocence; I don’t mean in a sexual context, I mean that they have lost purity and wholesomeness. Our ancestors lived very different lives from us; news travelled slowly, there was no media, information was hard to attain, life was much simpler and, in that sense, more innocent. However, people did like to know each other’s business, and gossip and hearsay were just as bad as they are today. I believe that God nurtures innocence, He literally protects His people from the rumourmongers and the chinwaggers, He puts a protective wall around us so that much of what is said behind our backs is never heard. His presence is a secret place where the gossipers cannot enter and their evil tongues can do no harm.  Isn’t that amazing? 

Secondly, the presence of the Lord is “shalom” to us. That word shalom means much more than just peace, it speaks of a whole lifestyle and lifetime in the contentment and fullness of all that God is. This is not a physical place; it is a spiritual state of wholeness and completeness and can be worked into every part of our lives until we are totally safe in the Lord. In that place of absolute trust and dependence, the evil and accusing tongues of the plotters and schemers are silenced. Hallelujah!

 

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