I feel so spoiled—blessed is a better word! That is quite a statement considering that we started back to school this week! Oh, how much difference a year can make! Last year, we had no idea what we were doing! (Well, I had taught before, but the curriculum was different, the school was different, and we were supposed to be retiring, not starting a new career!)
The reason for my “spoilage” is multifaceted. I’m sitting on the back porch (even though it’s only 55 degrees!). I love my flowers and my birds and my pond. It’s early, so the traffic noise isn’t too bad yet. “All is calm, all is bright.” (Oops! Wrong season—four months tomorrow! YIKES!) It’s the perfect spot to do my devotions—for me.
We are all different. Our houses, circumstances, and seasons of life are different. For that harried mom of little ones, a quick look at God’s Word while sitting in the bathroom may be her “quiet time.” Devotions for the “too-busy” fulltime and overtime worker may mean listening to something on the way to work. The young bride may be sitting on her apartment balcony dreaming of the day she has a house and porch of her own but making that little place the sweet spot for her “rendezvous with eternity.”
Next month, I’ll be speaking to a group of ladies on Psalms 91:1.
“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”
What does “the secret place of the Most High” look like to you? I hope you have a special place where you meet with God. It doesn’t have to be pretty. I’m an ambiance person, but for others, that may not be important, and, quite frankly, it’s not the place or atmosphere but the Person that is important. Vendezvous? —yes! Who do we think of when we want to rendezvous? It’s usually someone we love very much —someone we want to be with!
When David wrote this psalm, he included four names for God in the first two verses.
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Psalm 91:1,2 (NKJV)
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the LORD, “[He is] my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”
Each reference is a different word:
- The Most High: Elyon—the Lord Most High
- The Almighty: Shadday—almighty, most powerful
- The LORD: Yahweh (Jehovah)—the existing One; the proper name of the one true God; self-existent or eternal
- My God: Elohim—eternal Creator
Perhaps you’ve heard this before, but the name Jehovah has an interesting background. It is the earliest name used for God, the self-existing one. We have a dynamic example of its awesomeness in “The Ten Commandments” film when Moses asks for God’s name, and this powerful bass voice says, “I AM that I AM!” Wow! Gives me chills just writing it! The Israelites felt the name of God was too sacred to even speak, so they used four letters (which makes it a tetragrammaton) to represent the name: YHWH. It was latinized in the Middle Ages by changing the Y to J and adding vowels: JeHoVaH—Jehovah.
And THAT is who we get to meet with—rendezvous with, any time, any place. Amazing! It may make you feel as though you are unworthy. How could we ever feel worthy? Psalm 24:3,4 gives us this interesting list of requirements to come to the “hill of the Lord.”
Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?
Psalm 24:3,4
Or who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands
and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul (worshiped) to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
Thankfully, David Guzik gives us a great insight into all this:
“Under the New Covenant … the conduct of one’s life is a reflection of his fellowship with God. As John wrote: ‘If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth’ (1 John 1:6). We might say that under the Old Covenant a righteous walk was the precondition for fellowship with God; under the New Covenant a righteous walk is the result of fellowship with God, founded on faith. Yet under both covenants, God cares very much about the moral conduct of mankind, especially those who identify themselves as His people.”
I couldn’t have said it any better! Well, my devotion time is long overdue to be ended, but I hope that this is an encouragement to you to carve out a time to rendezvous with eternity today and every day.
Beyond Common Sense 