Day 10~ God our Shelter and Strength

Psalms 46:1-3;

"God is our shelter and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not be afraid, even if the Earth is shaken and mountains fall into the ocean depths; even if the seas roar and rage, and hills are shaken by violence."

Today, let us reflect on God, our shelter and strength.

What is a shelter?
A shelter is something that covers us, that protects us. For example we may go under an umbrella when it's raining to shelter under it so we won't get wet.

How is God our shelter?
Well, he protects us in our going out and in our coming in. He guides us on the right path that we need to follow and he takes care of us each day. Also, we can remain calm, knowing that he will protect us.

What is strength?
In this case, strength is the feeling that you can handle whatever comes your way.

How is God our strength?
He's our strength because he is able to do anything, he can speak to the waves and calm them, he has armies of angels at his command, God is omnipotent; he can do anything and he loves us.

In the bible, there are multiple occasions where we see God being the shelter and strength of his people, a very well known example is that of moses when he was led by God to talk to pharaoh to free the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.

The truth is, the Israelites weren't always slaves living in Egypt.

Joseph, the son of Jacob was sold by his brothers into slavery, later on, Joseph saved Egypt from a famine that the rest of the countries were unprepared for. Joseph's family, that is, his brothers, their wives, their children and his father, came to live in Egypt as per Joseph's request.

As time passed the Israelites became numerous in number and they were strong people, because of this the Egyptians eventually made them into slaves, fearing that they would soon overpower them.

Even as slaves, the Egyptians were afraid of the Israelites, so the pharaoh ordered that all the males born to the Israelite women be killed.

Now, God is our shelter and strength. God heard the cries of his people, he saw their suffering and during a time when the baby boys of the Israelite women were being killed, Moses survived.

God protected the man to be the savior of the Israelites.
When moses was old, about eighty years old, God spoke to him and gave him the strength to free the people of Israel.

With God on his side, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, and he led them out with twice as much as they had, because God made the Egyptians respect the Israelites and so they gave them whatever they asked for.

If God is your shelter and strength, who should you fear? What can't our Almighty God do?
He strengthens us, upholds us, protects us, why should we be afraid, as God's people, of any of the troubles that lurk in our world?

We need not fear, because the Lord Almighty, the Great I Am is our King. He loves us, he protects us and he strengthens us. He has done it in the past, he'll do it in the future and even right now, he is doing amazing things for us!

So let us follow the words of the Psalmist and not be afraid; even if the earth is shaken and mountains fall into the ocean depths, even if the seas roar and rage, and the hills are shaken by violence, let us  still have faith because our God is our shelter and our strength!