PSG FOR WHAT AILS YOU!

 

Ever feel like running away?  Where do you go to get away, to get alone?

My sister runs to her ‘tower room’ on the 3^rd floor of her home in rural PA, her writing place, her ‘time with Jesus’ place, her creativity place.

King David also went to a ‘tower room’:  “I will hurry off to hide in the higher place, into my shelter, safe from this raging storm and tempest.” Ps. 55:8 

Maybe the place we visited in Israel, Ein Gedi with its brooks, waterfalls and caves was one of those “higher places” where David went to hide.  I can imagine him wading in the cold water, refreshing himself, then stretching out on a warm rock to dry off in the sun, but I digress…

Interestingly enough, sometimes the danger we’re hiding from is not what we think.  The deceived leadership sometimes thinks invaders from outside are the main problem, so they guard the walls day and night, when “the real danger is within the city.  It’s the misery and strife in the hearts of the people.” Ps. 55:10

Oh, God, people need you to be their hiding place!

In Psalm 55: 17 David gives 3 practical actions (thank you!) that I can do to hide in the shelter of God’s embrace.

1.     “Every evening I will explain my need to him.”                            

 But he already knows my needs so why do I have to explain myself to him?

Because pillow talk with Daddy is better than silent tears on my pillow...

I think of my son, Christopher almost every night as I go upstairs to bed.  Chris was always a night owl, often going to bed as I was getting up for work in the morning.  I used to whisper as I passed his door on my way to bed at night, “Go to bed, Buddy!” sometimes out loud, sometimes under my breath.  I think of Chris, can’t believe he’s really gone, and the tears come. 

David said to explain my need to God.  Don’t stuff it.  Don’t give yourself the excuse that “here I am with the same problem I’ve come to him about for the past 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months, 3 years…” If it’s bothering you, he cares and he wants you to talk to him about it.

Remember, “pillow talk” with your sister or brother – if you had the privilege of sharing a bedroom with a sibling as I did, or sleepovers with close friends where night time led to secrets shared in the dark?

Daddy says, come and tell me, explain it to me.  Don’t say, as one of my dearest friends often does – “you don’t understand!”  Tell me. Explain yourself.  I want to understand.

Come and explain your need to me.  And not just once.  Do you need to talk only once to your friend, your husband or wife, your brother or sister, your mom or dad, and it’s done?

Embrace the feeling of comfort you receive when God shares your joys or your sorrows, the shelter of being known by someone who adores you.  Daddy loves you and wants to hear all about it, again and again.  The good, the bad and the ugly.  And the burden is so much easier to carry when it’s shared with someone else.  Or better yet, when I just unload it on him and let him carry it for me, like Corrie Ten Boom’s father did for her in her book, In My Father’s House. 

 2.       “Every morning I will move my soul toward him.”

 What does that look like?

No shame over last night’s unloading on God.  His arms are still open wide to me, beckoning me to come and rest my head on his shoulder.

What is my soul?  My mind, will and emotions, the real me – who I am on the inside.  The person I may try to hide by running into my tower room - that’s the person that needs to move toward God.

So I draw near.  I consciously turn toward God and not away from him.  I snuggle with Daddy, like David did every morning.

He’s always happy to see me.  He’s watching as I open my eyes each morning, waiting for me to come and snuggle, to move my soul toward him.

 3.      “Every waking hour I will worship only him.”

 According to Christianity Today, “true worship … is defined by the priority we place on who God is in our lives and where God is on our list of priorities.”

So, when problems are elevated above God… When anything takes precedence – good or bad – over first place in my thoughts, time, actions… Then I need to come back to #3:  “Every waking hour I will worship only him.”

Nothing is too big or too small for God.  One of my favorite teachers, Pastor Bill Johnson says: “If it matters to you, it matters to God.”

Don’t elevate the issue or it steals your focus.  You can’t focus on the problem and on God.

Like God says in Proverbs 3:5-6, “in all your ways acknowledge me and I will make straight your paths.”  I see a squiggly road map, but Jesus just gives it a shake, like shaking the wrinkles out, and there before me is a straight road.

What good advice from a man after God’s own heart: PSG!

1.       P - Pillow talk every night.

2.       S - Snuggle every morning.

3.       G - God first all day long.