The Good Spot
I love a good story. Ever since learning to read, I could get lost in a book. My summer memories tend to center around the summer reading challenge that the local library always held. I even had a secret reading spot in a hidden opening tucked in one of our front yard bushes. I can get lost in a good movie and not even realize if there is anything “inappropriate”; I get so entranced with the story that some details escape me. I’ve discovered that as I read God’s Word, I tend to see things in picture or in story. That happened this morning as I read Psalm 18.
Psalm 18:2 came alive this morning in western style. In verse 2 David says, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.” I’m sure David never saw a John Wayne movie, or even an episode of Bonanza. As I began to read the verse, I read it in typical Sunday School style, envisioning rocks like that in the flannel graph pictures of my childhood. I pictured a city with fortified walls just like the pictures I’ve seen of old Jerusalem. Then I got to “…my rock, in whom I find protection” and my mind went cowboy. I saw David, with his cowboy hat on, and a pistol in his hand, hunkered down behind a large boulder as guys, all dressed in black, were shooting at him from various angles. David, the Good Guy, was safe, because he had found the perfect boulder that would protect him from the enemy. Good Guy David could conveniently peek around and pick off all the bad guys one by one, because, obviously, being the Good Guy, David is the best shot there is.
The Psalmist, Cowboy David, continues in verse 2 to say, “He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.” The good guy in a western doesn’t just stand up from behind the boulder as if to say, “Here I am!! Shoot me now!” The good guy is wise; he hunkers down close to the rock and he waits for the best time to make his move. To remain protected, the good guy stays behind the rock, as close to that rock as he can get because he knows that’s his place of safety.
As I was enjoying my fresh-eyed approach to the Psalm, God spoke. God reminded my heart that to be truly protected from whatever temptation, struggle or battle I might face, I had to be hunkered down close to the Rock. I can’t be standing looking around at what might be going on, or be distracted by the intensity of the struggle, or the number of temptation bullets that might be flying around me. I need to be snuggled as close to the presence of God as I can get. I need to know that Rock intimately, every curve, every pebble, every shade.
Psalm 18:2 is a powerful statement of the character of God. He is my ROCK: steady, stable, solid. He is my FORTRESS: strong, safe, surrounding. He is my SAVIOR: my rescuer and redeemer. He is my HIDING PLACE: “the rock, in whom I find protection.” He is my SHIELD: defender, barrier, deflector, defender. He is THE POWER: awesome, unstoppable, overwhelming, destroyer, winner. He is my SAFETY: tender, restful, presence of peace.
I have recently come to the realization that I like life to fit into my perfectly pictured box. When surprise events happen, I try to figure things out so that life will still fit into the box that I think it should fit into. Many times this is basically an exercise in creative rearranging for me. I’m pretty adaptable, and I figure that’s just life, and you need to sometimes just “roll with it.” That’s all good . . . . until I have elements that don’t fit anywhere within what I pictured the box should look like. God is teaching me to live outside the box, to let the box go, and join Him in His adventure.
Honestly? Being a Good Guy Cowboy, hunkered behind a boulder with bullets flying all around has never been anything inside my box. Psalm 18:17-19 says, “He rescued me from my powerful enemies, from those who hated me and were too strong for me. They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress, but the Lord supported me. He led me to a place of safety; he rescued me because he delights in me.” I’ve experienced enough of life to know that being rescued doesn’t mean that life goes back to fitting into my perfect, ideal box. Being in a place of safety doesn’t necessarily mean a six figure income, a cute wardrobe, and friends to hang out with every Saturday night. And I can cling to the truth that God, the one whose character is described as Rock, Fortress, Savior, Hiding place, Shield, Powerful and Place of Safety, THAT GOD, He delights in me. “For I have kept the ways of the Lord; I have not turned from my God to follow evil.” (Psalm 18: 21)
There is a Good Spot, it’s a sweet spot for all us Good Guy cowboys. The Good Spot is hunkered down close to Jesus. Memorizing every one of His character traits, and snuggling up so tight that one can feel how solid and immovable He is. There may be bullets flying, the enemy may be sneaky and strong, I may be asked at some point to engage in the battle — and I am one in whom God Almighty delights. I can wear my boots with joy and peace; “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my savior; my God is the rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.”
