Thankful Thursday: Shelter

It's Thursday and I'm thankful for shelter! There are many reasons. I've been pondering on the people of Haiti and their great loss of shelter, on our storms and the two new leaks in my house that remind me how much the rest of it keeps out, and on the shelter of God's almighty hand.

So many are left without shelter now. So many like Job have had everything stripped away from them. John Piper posted a poem he wrote in his pondering on Haiti:

Jesus in Haiti
After the Earthquake

Do you consider safety, or your health,
A sign from me?
I am not awed by might, nor struck by wealth,
Or poverty.

O, I am struck! And crushed. Buried, I wince,
And dying, pray,
A sympathetic Priest in Port-au-Prince,
Even today.

But there, in those United States the boot
Is on my face.
“Saul, Saul,” I ask, “Why do you persecute
And not embrace?”

Your King, I lift my arms to you in peace
And patient grief;
And summon now to Haiti enemies
For my relief.

I find that a very powerful poem. "why do you persecute and not embrace?" is so striking to some who have responded so arrogantly in the Christian media. I'm thankful for other Christian leading men who have risen to show a more Christlike attitude. The last line is the most powerful however "and summon now to Haiti enemies for my relief". It's amazing that God will use those who don't know him even when we who sometimes do not rise to the occasion. It's incredibly convicting. May we not put our boot to the very face of Jesus by not helping the helpless.

Yes, our house has a few more leaks. We will need to do some serious patching once the weather dries but last time I found a leak I just freaked out and felt so discontent with my home. This time I was immediately thankful for how safe and dry we WERE inside here! I've been impressed with the blessing of shelter, and warmth, of dry blankets and warm food. There is so much to be thankful for. Yet I also have to remember to hold even all that I have with an open hand.

Above all, oh, I'm so thankful for the shelter of God's provision of himself. Not really just what he gives me to take care of me, shower love on me, or meet my needs, but the very provision of himself, of the revelation of my need for Him and the solution of His Son to provide it.

"But let all who take refuge in you be glad,

Let them ever sing for joy;

And may you shelter them;

That those who love you may exult in you."
Psalm 5:11

The reason I'm thankful for it is because it is the one thing that cannot be taken away. This of course parallels my thoughts reading Job as I shared in the previous post. God sheltering us means one thing and one thing only. It is not defined by his provision here on earth, though He may give it. It does not mean continued health here on earth, though He may give it. It is not wrapped up in funds for our next need, though He may give it. It is fully and completely the gift of Himself, which is the shelter or the resting place that perfectly fits the one thing we really truly and only need. Love for God breeds joy, unstopped and untainted by the lack for anything else. That is a basis for continued thanks in my soul.

So, I pray for those without shelter, be they in California in the storms, or in Haiti. I pray the Lord will provide their needs and send His people out to help them. I pray even more that men will find the shelter of their souls in these times of loss AND in the times of plenty. The shelter that cannot be taken, and the shelter from eternity past, and our portion forever.