Shelter in Place

You know, maybe even having a little special meaning for those of us in the Cincinnati area. Jessica was showing a picture of what hit them as they were coming home from night to be gigantic hailstones that they were driving through. And so it was a little rough last night in the Cincinnati area. We had the alarms go off, we had to head down to the basement at that time and, kind of, took cover. They told us, "Get to the basement, shelter in place," because of the storms that were coming. In fact, possibly many tornadoes around the area that impacted us around Cincinnati. And so, that's certainly one thing to consider, you know, as we think about Days of Unleavened Bread, especially with the difficulties, maybe some we experienced last night, the difficulties of being separated right now, with the Coronavirus and the challenges that that has brought.

In fact, I was reading an article the other day that was published by "The New York Times." And they reported that 90% of Americans are now covered by a shelter-in-place order. And so, shelter-in-place, well, that means we've got to take refuge like we did last night, and we stay there. And the government has spelled out guidelines, protocol. Our governor here in Ohio says, "These are the things that we need to take into account and obey." We're mandated to stay home. We're supposed to, if we go out, stay 6 feet away from anyone else. And then it comes down to the basics, only the essentials is what's supposed to concern that. And so, when we consider that, it is definitely a different kind of life today, isn't it? Life is different. And yet at the same time, you might say, "We've received a shelter-in-place mandate from Almighty God."

Think about that for a moment. At Passover, we sheltered in place. We recommitted ourselves. We renewed our personal covenant with God. We recognized the fact that God has given us His Spirit. And He's divinely enabled us to overcome and succeed spiritually, by His resources, by the power of His love, by the power of His Spirit. And so we rejoice in the fact that God's committed Himself to us. And because of Passover, really, because of our baptism, we show our commitment to God, and we shelter in place, we shelter in His place. So, as we think about that for a moment, let's examine what sheltering-in-place means spiritually. What does it mean to our life? And does it have any connection to the Feast of Unleavened Bread?

Well, there's a particular Psalm that caught my attention that has, I think, a little bit of an unleavened bread perspective in it. It's over in Psalm 91. So, if you'll turn there with me to Psalm 91, we find a Psalm that has Unleavened Bread connections, and at the same time, amazing prophecies, the promises here are phenomenal. And as you turn there, you'll notice as you arrive at Psalm 91, there's really no title. There's no author that's given here. And so, some speculate, well, is it Moses, because some of the things that are mentioned seem to connect to this time of the year and the Exodus? Others feel it might be David because some of the things that are mentioned sound very Davidic in that way. It doesn't really matter because we know God has inspired these words and these promises. So, let's notice how it connects with sheltering-in-place in the Days of Unleavened Bread. There are several lessons here that we can take note of. First lesson. Look at verse 1.

Psalm 91:1 "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."

What do you notice first? What's the first thing that you recognize here? This is conditional. This is not an automatic thing. Do you notice when He talks about His people, He says, it's not a promise made to everyone. So, who's it made to? Who is this promise that He's going to rehearse made to? Well, right off the bat we see it's the ones who dwell in the shelter of the Most High. And so, we find a conditional promise, to shelter in place. It's where we abide. It's where we live. Dwells. "He who dwells." This is the Hebrew word, yashab. And, yes, it means to dwell or to sit down, to remain, to remain. Because God has a secret place for His own. Don't you like the way that's worded? There's always something about a secret, a secret place. Well, that's the way the words are translated there. This secret place, well, what could that be? Can we understand what that's about?

Well, the "New Living Translation" puts it this way, "Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty." So, we understand His secret place is where He presides, His presence, His...well, in the old days, it was the tabernacle, and then the temple. It was His tent, His shelter. That's where it was. And those who dwell in the presence of God, you know, today, our body is the temple of God. We house God's Spirit. We are to dwell in His presence. And we live there. We abide there. And, of course, that word, abide, doesn't mean we just, kind of, stay a little bit, not just remain, because that sounds like we, kind of, come and go. But that's not what that word, abide, means. I mean, literally, it means to lodge. We stay there. We stay there. And it reflects this idea of complete security. We have His protection. We may have been in our basement last night surrounded by some concrete walls, but what protection would that be to an overwhelming tornado?

We need God's protection, we need His comfort, we need His care. That's real security. That's the dwelling and the abiding that this Psalm is talking about. And that shelter, that's for those who put their trust in Him. And so, immediately, we've got to step back and ask ourselves, "Is that describing me?" Because, you know, when times are tough, okay, I look to God in tough times. Yeah, occasionally, I might run to His shelter. I may think I want His sanctuary. You know, I might come before the mercy seat. That's not what this is talking about. This is talking about living there. We live there. Have we sheltered in place with God? You see, the challenge is we get so distracted. Even in this world where maybe life has slowed down a little bit because we're at home, even among those different circumstances, we can get so off-track sometimes. We can make work our place of shelter. Yeah, because now I might be working at home. And so instead of working just a few hours a day like I used to, now I work all the time, right? And so we got to be careful with that. What is our dwelling place? Is it work? Maybe it's family. Family could overtake us and become our dwelling place, or our friends, or the ever-present entertainment. That can become our dwelling place. And so, we have to be so careful of that.

In fact, if you hold your place here and turn over to Psalm 27, this is an interesting Psalm that connects here. Now, if it was David that wrote Psalm 91, we see a connection here to Psalm 27. Notice verse 4. This is one of those passages that I think connects so beautifully because it really points to the fact of, am I really secure in this Godly shelter? Psalm 27. Look at verse 4.

Psalm 27:4 Notice what he writes, "One thing I have desired of the Lord, that I will seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life."

Now, you talk about sheltering-in-place, can we say this? Can we say, "This is one thing I truly desire. This is what I really want. This is what I'm longing for. This is what I'm seeking after. I really want to live under God's shelter because this crazy world seems to grab my attention and it pulls me and it deceives me and wants to get me back into its way of things and its important aspects of what it counts as critical?" But I can't go there. I can't go there. This is what my unleavened bread attitude has to be. Is this what I'm seeking? This one thing, this one desire, dwelling, abiding, living sheltered-in-place with God. That was certainly on David's mind.

In fact, as we turn back to Psalm 91, turn back to Psalm 91, we can recognize the fact that this promise is only to those who put their complete trust in God, that one desire, one desire. That's what we proclaimed at the Passover, that was our desire, so we can't let that go. That's got to continue to be our prevalent thought, our foremost thought, to live closely, to fellowship, to share. We commune with God. We said that at the Passover. Isn't this the communion of His body and His blood, the sharing, the fellowship, the partnership, that God is over us. In fact, we are so close, that it says He is our refuge. He is our refuge. He is our sanctuary. He is our shelter. And we proclaim that at Passover. And if we're going to be authentic disciples, that has to be our thinking because that's who this promise is to. In fact, if we skip down just a little bit, we get a little sneak peek into His next thought that builds on this idea.

Psalm 91:14. It says, "Because he has set his love upon me," what does God say? "Therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high because he has known my name."

You see whose name is on the house. Whose household are we a member of? Well, it's God's shelter. It's His house. It's His sanctuary. It's His mercy seat. And here it's not just knowing who God is. That is not it, just knowing about God, but really grasping the fact that God knows everything. God is omnipotent, He is all-powerful. He is omnipresent, He is everywhere. He is just. He is full of grace and mercy. That's the kind of shelter He is. And when we shelter in God's place, that means we depend on Him and we have a close in-house, we could say, relationship with Him. Because it's certainly not for those of us who think, "Well, I can do all right on my own." It's not a promise made to the self-sufficient. It's not a promise made to the independent. It's not a promise made to those who are autonomous, or self-willed, or self-directed. I mean, think of it this way, if we think, "I can go it on my own." Ever catch yourself thinking that? "I can do all right on my own." All right, if that's our thinking, why should God do it for us? Why should He? I think He says, "Well, okay, have at it if that's what you want. You think you can do it on your own?" You see, God's promise here, we're told, is for those who call upon His name.

In fact, in these first two verses of Psalm 91, if you take a peek here, we've got four beautiful, wonderful names for God. The secret place of the Most High. El Elyon, the Most High God. The Almighty, El Shaddai, the Almighty God. He is the Lord, in verse 2, Yahweh. The Tetragrammaton is mentioned there. And He is not just the Most High God, He's not just Almighty, He's not just the Lord, but He's my God. He's my Elohim, my Elohim. And so, we see that close interconnection there. One that we can't live without, we can't have a spiritual life without it. And as we look back to verse 1.

Psalm 91:1 It says “We abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

Is that talking about how close we are? I mean, think about how close that is. How close do you have to be to someone if their shadow is on us? You got to be right next to them. I mean, you got to walk together. It's talking about companionship. I mean, think about that. God is our ever-present companion. He's always there for us if we walk with Him. He is our friend, He is our comforter, He is our confident. Christ is our dear brother. God, our Abba, Father. Yeah, their shadow is cast on us because it's talking about protection, and safety, and security. And God gives us that because He cares for us and He is concern for us. And because of that, because His shadow is upon us, we recognize that. And as we dwell in His house, we're not going to do the things that get us into trouble. We know the house rules. We're going to do those things. We are not going to say the things that get us into trouble. We're not going to act foolishly and do those things that are unwise. We're not going to act carelessly. We're not going to act unthoughtful.

In fact, we are not going to think those things. We're not going to think those things. Because we recognize this wonderful promise that He's conditionally made to us. And so I've got to reexamine my life, and ask Him, "Am I in His shadow? Am I really living in that close of a relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ? Is that a description of my life? Have I put my entire life under the care of His roof?" Because that's what it's about. When we shelter in place, it means to take refuge and stay there. God's directions are spelled out through what you could say His orders, His protocol of the Kingdom of God. We're mandated, stay at home. Stay at home. Stay in shelter in God's place. And if we're to shelter-in-place, that means that first lesson rings true. God is our dwelling. God is our dwelling. That is our mandate. In fact, as we look to verse 2, we see that mandate continues in making God our dwelling, making Him our shelter.

PSalm 91:2 It says, "I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in Him I will trust.'"

I mean, imagine that. When we're truly living in God's shelter, we understand that protection. We're under His roof, we're at His table. I mean, do you ever think of it as a home where we're in God's living room? We're kind of hanging out with God. You see, it's not a come-and-go kind of thing. It's an always kind of thing. So, when we're there and we're constantly in His presence, what's the result? Well, we act like Him. We talk like Him. We think like Him. And that's what we proclaimed at Passover, that's what we proclaimed at baptism. We're a different person. We're a new individual. Because God is my mighty refuge. And that refuge, literally, in Hebrew, it means a shelter from danger. A shelter from danger. So, no matter the challenges that we face, we can truly trust in Him. We can have Him as our refuge. And as we do, we receive His protection, we receive His comfort, we receive His care. And we can trust God all the more. And so, the more we trust Him, the more we understand Him and know Him as our great God.

Or maybe you can think of it this way, God's got you covered. God's got you covered. Because God always does His part. When we turn to Him, there's never a doubt. Of course, the challenge is, we have a choice. We have free will. We have free moral agency. So, it's up to us to do our part. We have a responsibility. And so, do we choose to shelter in place and be totally dependent on Him? I mean, we've seen that around here, we saw it on the news the other night. People that are going out totally disregarding, you know, what our governor has put into place as his law, as his mandate to people. And they're just doing whatever they want instead of following those guidelines. Well, we can't do that when it comes to spiritually, at those aspects of sheltering-in-place. We got to make the right choice. We got to choose to make God that shelter from danger, that refuge that He says He will be. So, we decide. We choose. We choose.

So, how do you evaluate that? I mean, what's an indication of our connection? What's an indication of our relationship? Am I really in the house? Have I really chosen to have that safeguard over me? What's the evidence of that fact? Okay, maybe it's fair to say, when we pay attention and focus on the Word of God, when we listen to Him, when we understand what His guidelines for our life are really all about, when we focus on His Word, when we focus on what He says, when we safeguard that in our life, our life is an evidence of Jesus Christ living in us. When we protect His Word, and we live that Word, and we preserve His commands in the things that we say, in the things that we do, what's God's reaction? He safeguards us. He protects us. Psalm 91 says He preserves us. And I believe that's evidence of how close we really are. Do we have an intimate relationship with God? Is it reflected in how much time we take and how much attention we give to His word?

I mean, you know how frustrating that is when you're talking and people aren't listening to you. You think you're making a connection and they're off in their own world. I know I don't appreciate that. My wife doesn't appreciate that when I do that to her. What do you think God thinks? Are we off on our own doing our own thing? We're off in the back room instead of in the living room, in the real spiritual living room? You see, when we really recognize that, your shelter is determined by that attention to God and His Word. You know, are we in a side room or are we in the house? Because really, if we give God a little, well, we give Him a little time, give Him a little energy, maybe just a little bit of passion, what's the return?

Well, you'll have a little faith, you'll have a little result. Little faith, little results. That'll be the outcome. But if we're truly shelter dependent as God is our refuge, when we're passionate for His way, we give God our attention. We don't get focused on other things, we give Him our time, we spend that time in His Word. What does God promise to do? He promises to give us His attention. Draw near to God, He will draw near to you. That's what James 4:8 tells us. It's a promise. Time with God pays off spiritually. And when we consistently walk with God and we listen to Him, even in the smallest of things, well, then we're really going to be prepared in a time of a crisis. We'll have no problem listening to God and obeying what He tells us to do. When we walk in wisdom, when we walk close to Him, we find we'll always be protected. Because the opposite is true, isn't it?

People will let you down. But God will never, never ever let us down. And so we recognize that fact. But sometimes we don't really realize it. I mean, do we really recognize as the source? That's God. God is the source. The number one means. In fact, the only hope that we have. We rehearsed that on the Passover, didn't we? We read that section in the book of John. Christ said, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You've sent." You see, so first and foremost, we must make God our dwelling. Absolutely.

Now, of course, we find there's another lesson here, Psalm 91, we find the fact that as we shelter in place, we're told to focus on what's necessary. What are the necessities, the essential? You know, right now only essential businesses are supposed to be opened? Well, what do you need? Well, we all need shelter. What else do we need? We all have to eat. We all need food. We all need food in a home. Well, in a good home, you have good food. Well, where do the supplies come from? No, not Walmart, or Kroger, or Target, or anything like that. Turn over to John 6:53. John 6:53. Here we see a powerful second lesson that not only Psalm 91 speaks of, but Christ Himself said these words, about that necessity of eating the proper food, what ultimately, we can't supply ourselves.

John 6:53-58 Jesus says, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. My flesh is food indeed." In other words, this is true food, spiritual food. "My blood is drink indeed." True drink. "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent me, I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven. Not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead, he who eats this bread." Christ spoke of His body and drinking His blood, He says, "They will live forever."

Now, that's what God supplies. That's His gift, His part. That's the divine side, the heavenly side, you might say. The necessities, the essentials. Nothing that we can do but that's what God supplies. We receive that directly from the source. God's supernaturally, you might say, sustains us spiritually. That's His provision.

In fact, this life that Christ talked about, this is not the Greek word, bios, like we find in the word, biology. Not talking about biological life. This word in the Greek is zoe. Zoe. That's talking about spiritual life, spiritual life. You see, eating His body and drinking His blood, that would have been offensive to the Jews, because you don't get anywhere near blood. That would be awful. You certainly wouldn't do that, you were not cannibals. But they didn't understand the spiritual meaning to what He was saying. He was giving this spiritual idea of real spiritual food, being connected to His body, and blood. His sacrifice is spiritual life. And so, here we find, I think, an amazing guarantee that God guarantees this closeness, that He's going to stay close to us, that He's going to pour out His love on us, that He's going to give us this incredible grace. He favors us.

But did you notice that word propped up again? There it is. What does it say? Oh, yeah, it says, verse 56, we have to abide. Abide in me. Not just come near Christ, not just, "Well, He's kind of near to me, so." No, it's not just, "Well, I've accepted Christ, and that's all there is to it." No, we got to be in the house, we've got to be protected in that house. And we've got to be fed. We've got to be eating and drinking the living Jesus Christ. He lives in us, we live in Him. We live by being in Christ because He's our brother. God is our Father. We're related. We're united together. And so we draw that spiritual life from Him and through Him. That's the ultimate spirituality. We cannot be spiritual unless we're feeding on Christ. And it's reflected in our thinking.

And so, what are we doing today? I mean, we're celebrating the feast. But what feast is this? Well, the name is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It isn't the feast of not eating leavened bread, right? That's not the feast. It's not the feast of, "No leavened bread." That's not the name of it either. It's the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Eating and drinking of Christ is life-giving nourishment. That's what it is. And we must be eating. That source of our spiritual nutrition comes from God the Father through Jesus Christ. And we proclaim His death till He comes, eating and drinking, becoming like our elder brother. Without that sacrifice, without that body being beaten and scourged for us, without that blood that was spilled for us, we cannot be justified, we cannot be brought into a right relationship with God, we cannot be acquitted of sin.

So, we've got to be so close to Him. We count on Him. We rely on Him. We're nourished by Him. And it's something we just don't eat one time at the Passover or proclaim it once at our baptism. We continue to eat. I mean, we all ate last night, maybe we had an extra-special meal. Well, anybody have breakfast this morning? You probably did. Or maybe you had brunch today. You mean after last night you were hungry again? Yeah, we are. Spiritually, it's the same way. We continue feeding on Christ. We have no spiritual sustenance without Him. And so we remain, we dwell, we abide with Him and He in us.

And so, if we claim to be Christian, we claim to be a follower of Christ, what does that say about me? If I'm in Him, what happens to me? What happens to the old Steve? He's got to be gone. He's got to be gone. Sheltering in place means eating of Christ, following Him, submitting to Him, denying myself. Honoring the Father by selfless words, and deeds, and actions. Because we live in this dark world of corruption and evil yet we're to shine as lights. Yeah, we're to distance ourselves. I mean, isn't this a time of self-distancing, social distancing? Boy, we better be as far away from the ways of this world, not just 6 feet, right? The ways of this world, we better be so far distanced from, it has no impact on us. And we can only do that through the power of God's Holy Spirit. We're told to have no fellowship, no sharing, no partnership with the unfruitful works of darkness. That's what's out there in this world. We are to expose them. And the only means possible is if we have the mind of Christ. And so this is a wonderful time then to ask ourselves, "How different am I? Am I really different? Am I really offset from the world? Am I really shining as a light to this darkened world?" That's something we should all pray about. We should all petition God. "God help me to be different." We don't have because we don't ask. Do we ask? Do we seek? Do we keep knocking? We should continue to do those things and ask God to impact our lives so our thinking is different and our lives will be different. We partake of Christ. And the only way we really can get a hold of ourselves, really control ourselves, is by God's power, by submitting our life into His hands. And that means truly dying to self. Because all too often, I mean, think of this time of this virus that's going around. I think sometimes we may be infected with Christianity. But we start recovering. That's not what we're supposed to be. You know, it's our old man, our old self on life support. You see, we got to get off the ventilator of this world.

Paul said, "For to me, to live is Christ." Not to just believe in Christ, not just to have Christ as our Savior, but to be like Him, to get self, get me out of the way. "To live is Christ, to die is gain." You see, it's about death. We're not supposed to come back from the dead. We kill that old man. We crucify him. And yet we live but not me. Galatians 2:20 says, "The old me is dead. Now what you see is Christ shining through." And that's our goal. And that changes everything. That changes our whole perspective. It's talking about spiritual transformation, developing the holy, righteous, perfect character of Jesus Christ. God working His will through us. And so we're set apart and we're sanctified and led by God's spirit. I mean, what a great honor. What a great privilege that is. It's our critical responsibility to fulfill that great calling that God's given us. And so, if we shelter in place, we have to not only dwell with God, but we have to eat of Jesus Christ.

Go back to Psalm 91. There's a third thing we can keep in mind as well. Psalm 91 continues on with amazing, beautiful promises that are so powerful and so wonderful. Let's notice just a couple of them here. Back in Psalm 91. Look at verse 3. Verse 3 brings us a third lesson. See if you can pick it out as we go along.

Psalm 91:3-6 "Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence." So, we have terrible diseases that are out there. Others are out to get us like those that trap birds. It says, “Yet on the other hand,” verse 4, “He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings, you shall take refuge. His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday."

And so, we see mentioned here in these few, short, little verses, a number of different metaphors for the issues that would lure us, and challenge us, and really compromise our loyalty to God. And yet, we have a promise. What is that promise? Well, it says we don't have to be afraid. Why? Because His truth will be our shield and buckler. That's talking about a shield that's going to protect us from those fiery darts. But also this buckler. What in the world is a buckler anyway? Well, it's literally, referring to something that surrounds us, wraps around us completely, and protects us. And if you think of a soldier in ancient times, what was it that would surround them and protect them all around? What would be that code of male, that chain male that would surround them and protect them so their body couldn't be pierced or cut by a sword? God is our shield and our buckler. And so, the lesson is all about the essentials, isn't it? We need shelter. We need food. What's the third thing that every one of us need physically, more importantly, spiritually? We need clothing. We need clothing. It's essential. God is our shield and buckler. God will, it says, rescue us. He will save us from these things that could trap us.

Now, how does He do that? I mean, oftentimes, we think of these remarkable miracles that God did. God did an amazing miracle at this time of the year, way back in ancient times. Maybe you rehearsed that last night. As Moses and the children of Israel came out of Egypt, they got stuck by the sea. What did God do? He rescued them. He stepped in and parted the sea. Amazing miracle. Think about how God provided for them, whether it was manna in the wilderness, whether it was, you know, the wonderful quail that He provided. God sustained them. That was miraculous. God rescued them over and over and over again. I mean, maybe we think of other miraculous events that took place. Any come to mind? I mean, when you think of this, God's going to save us, rescue us. Forget about that pestilence, don't have to worry about destruction.

Well, maybe you think of Hananiah and Mishael. Do you think of those two or maybe those three? Do you think of those individuals? Who are those guys? Remember Azariah, Mishael, Hananiah? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They went in the furnace, didn't they? God didn't save them from going in the furnace. They were in there. Now, He miraculously protected them, amazing. Also interesting to think of Daniel. Was it Daniel was, kind of, around the lions' den? He was in it. He was in the lions' den. So, that gives us a little perspective when we recognize, all right, we shouldn't be afraid of the terror. Don't be afraid of the arrow. Don't be afraid of the pestilence. Don't be afraid of the destruction of the darkness. Yeah, God can save in miraculous ways, like those instances. But this doesn't mean that if we trust in God and put our faith and confidence in Him, we'll never die from infectious disease, or that we'll never suffer an attack. That's not what this is saying. Because then we'd have a problem with other examples in the Scripture.

I mean, did God deliver Joseph, for example? Well, he was sold into slavery, sold down to Egypt where he went through all kinds of trials. Eventually, came out on top, I mean, miraculous. But then there was God's deliverance of Stephen. What happened to him? Was he delivered? Yeah, he was, but he was stoned to death. Well, what about Paul? Paul was martyred. What about Peter? Peter was martyred. What about James? What about Christ Himself? You see, this passage doesn't mean we're always immune from physical plague, or pestilence, or problems, or challenges, or difficulties, or destruction. But what it does tell us is that we're always guarded from destructive spiritual forces. Our spiritual life is never in jeopardy when we shelter in place with God. When we dwell in the secret place of the Most High, spiritually, we are never in doubt, ever. In fact, look down to verse 15.

Psalm 91:15-16 God says, "He shall call upon me," God says, "I will answer. I will be with him in trouble. I'll deliver him and honor him with long life. I will satisfy him and show him my salvation."

In other words, no evil is going to overtake us. Not going to happen that way. We will be in His presence. God overrules any of those difficult situations. In fact, God rules everything, for good. Kind of like a Romans 8:28 kind of thing. And ultimately, the kingdom of God delivers us beyond trouble. And so, we have this promise of His presence, "I will be with him even in trouble." It doesn't say He will take away trouble, but even in trouble, we have the promise of His presence. We also have the promise of His protection, "I will deliver him." We have the promise of life and salvation, "I will satisfy him with long life." The ultimate long life is eternal life, eternal life. And we could say, "God's got it locked down. God's got us locked down."

And so, as we consider this, yeah, there's a good number of people that are covered by a shelter-in-place order today. But for us, as God's people, we must be 100% sheltered in place, in His place. Because ultimately, God gives us what is necessary. He gives us the essentials, the necessities, shelter, food, and clothing. And so as we consider this, especially at this feast, let's be dedicated. Let's be recommitted and devote ourselves to choose to, first of all, dwell in God's secret places. That we are dwelling with God, we're declaring Him to be that refuge, that we get our eyes fixed on Him, our hearts, and our minds because He is our help and our deliverance. We spend time with Him in His Word, and we pray to Him, we meditate on His Word. And when we do that, then we can be absolutely confident that we have His protection. And so when we do this, we consistently walk with Him, and we listen to Him, even in the smallest of things. And when we do that, these are powerful blessings that God pours out on us. Because ultimately, then, we're communing with Him, we're eating with Him as well.

We're fulfilling that second lesson of eating of the bread of life in the household of God. And we're consuming it. In fact, indication is that we can't live without it, we've got to devour it. And so, if the wrong way of thinking, the wrong food comes in, that means we've got to take spiritual action immediately. We got to keep our word straight. We got to keep our minds on His Word, and we study that Word, and we get down on our knees, and we pray to God, we seek His forgiveness, we seek repentance, and He forgives us. And we don't compromise His way. We don't miss a service even if it's a virtual service. We are together worshipping and praising

God, no matter what. And we're going to do whatever it takes, whatever it takes to get our heart and our mind anchored in the truth of God. That's what eating of the bread of life is all about. We don't listen to those wrong influence and we don't even begin to hearken to Satan's lies. Because ultimately, we're fulfilling that third lesson, and we are clothed in Jesus Christ, we put on that godly armor. He is our shield. He is our buckler. And we have refuge that's the greatest refuge that could ever be, in fact, more powerful than any enemy could ever overtake. And the more we walk with Him, the closer we are in His shadow and trust Him, the stronger that spiritual armor and protection becomes. So, no matter what's happening around us, let's rejoice. We can have true spiritual joy because God's got you covered. No doubt we can live. So let's be dedicated to live sheltered in His place.