Devotionals by Dr. M. Craig Barnes
In the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, until the destroying storms pass by. --
David wrote these words when he was hiding in the cave of Adullam. It felt like a storm of adversity had swept over him. Fleeing for his life from King Saul, he had tried to find sanctuary with Israel's enemy, the Philistines. But when they discovered who David was, the Philistines tried to kill him as well, and would have, except he started acting like a crazy man and got off on an insanity plea.
Then David had no more places to run, and no more crazy schemes to try. All that was left was to hide in a cave until the destroying storm passed him by. But it was from the cave that David, and we, have always done some of our best praying.
There is nothing in the Bible that promises if you just live right you can avoid the storms of life. To the contrary, the Bible promises that the rain will fall upon the just and the unjust. But it also promises you can survive the storm if you just stay under the wings of God. You don't have to keep doing the crazy thing of running out into the middle of adversity.
Eventually, the storm always goes away. By itself. Nothing you do is going to speed that along. So just head for cover. Any cave can become the shadow of God's wings if it is a place of prayer. That prayer is your only sanctuary until the sun breaks through.
-- Craig Barnes