The beginning of this chapter in Psalms begins with, “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.” Having God as our refuge, we inevitably want Him to preserve us, protect us, watch over us, and guide us. When we go through hard times, however, our hearts may be inclined to say, “Where are you, God?” “Why did this happen to my family?” We may even want to blame God for what we’re going through, and I am no exception.
On a resurrection weekend, when all my kids were teenagers, I almost lost them. With bad weather and black ice, my kids were in a near-death car accident. When I got the call from my son, my husband and I immediately took off to meet them. Not knowing the severity of the situation, what should have been 3 hours to reach my kids turned out to be 10 hours of pleading with God that everything was really okay. I would soon come to find out that my daughter was badly injured and needed immediate medical attention. She stayed in the hospital for two weeks, and though in pain, I daily thanked the Lord for sparing her life and my boys’ lives.
Psalm 16:8 says, “I have set the Lord always before me…” I truly saw that in the middle of pain, suffering, and fear, the Lord was always there. That verse ends with, “because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” As difficult as it was to see my daughter in pain and go through the different surgeries and procedures that she had to go through, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that God had His hand on her. God’s Word assured me that He would be with her and with us. His right hand held me and my family, helping us to stand firm through the storm.
Over 15 years later, I continue to see evidence of the Lord sustaining us and comforting us through the valleys, just as Psalm 23 tells us. His comfort, as a gift, is evidence of His goodness. Evidence that I have seen and felt in the midst of the deepest valleys. His word assures us that He will prepare a table for us, and one day, we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. By His power, We shall not be shaken. Jesus LIVES, and this is the wonderful part of our lives. Continue to stand firm and remember that our Redeemer lives, and at the last, HE will stand upon the earth (Job 19:25).