It’s hard to imagine that just a month ago we were out and about with very little sense of what was soon to happen. Since then, the Coronavirus has changed all of our lives us in so many ways. Some of you I know are busier than you have ever been at work. Some are facing the challenges of working from home. Some are ill. Some are busy with childcare and home schooling and others are finding their days very long with too much time to think.
Change, is very often alarming, and the flood of news on our TVs and other screens does little to calm us down but in Psalm 57, we find lots to help us.
The psalm tells us primarily to hide in Gods presence and to praise him. This probably seems like a self centered and strange approach but let’s unpack it for a moment.
Praise, is always about more than honouring God. As we speak out to God all that we want to thank him for, all that we can trust him for, we don’t just honour God, we calm our own fears as we remind ourselves of his strength. There is real power in praise.
‘Hiding under Gods wings’ need not be a literal curling up and ignoring everything either. I believe that God calls us to witness to him more than ever in these times when people are confused, afraid and needing to know God is there. We need to help in every responsible way we can. We need to phone around and support each other. We need to post prayers on the internet or just stick something in your window that says ‘I’m praying for all my neighbours’ we need to find every possible, way of caring for one another within the rules the government needs us to follow….but in all that we do during this time, we do it in the shadow of his wing. That means we pray as never before, it means we read our Bibles and feed on his promises as never before. It means we trust and lean and hope and delight in the God for whom nothing is impossible , the God who invites you to step under the shadow of his wing and trust him for all that’s to come because in all that we do, feel and experience, we are in the presence of the God of power and love and new beginnings both for us and for his World.
A Prayer:
Lord bless our homes.
Bless our communities,
Bless our NHS and all key workers
and bless our World with healing health and peace.
Amen.
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