When I was released from rehab, we had promised Joshua that he could pick out a pet, as he had been wanting one for some time and this seemed like the perfect time. We went into PETCO and right there was the pet of the week - Garfield the cat’s twin. With the love and compassion, we gave Bently, it took him a week of hiding from us, but he finally came around to trust all of us. Just like Joshua went to great lengths to make Bently feel safe, and protected, Mark did so much for me when I was in the hospital and rehab. There wasn’t a day when he didn’t show up, or made sure I had all the medical attention I needed; … That the nurses didn’t ignore my needs.. He even went out of his way to bring me special snacks! He w-a-s there for me! Mark was there encouraging me, making sure I wasn’t lonely…. It was costly to do this, there were hotel bills, as there wasn’t going back and forth from the island every day due to ferry schedules and the bay being frozen over.
As much as Mark did so many things to protect and care for me as safe as I was - G-O-D - gives even more protection, care and safety to His children….
It is amazing that God loves us so much. We have done nothing to deserve His care, but did you know that He wants to be a strength for us and provide a place of safety? When I was younger I was shy and uncomfortable around people – I didn’t have that safe person in my life. But God wants to be that place of safety for me. Do you desire a safe place? I think we all do. And sometimes I think as women we have the feeling, “ I just want someone to protect me.” Someone who cares for us more than anything else – someone who is strong who can make a difference. Have you ever felt that way? I certainly have.
It is reassuring knowing that we have someone strong to turn to as we see in proverbs 18:10…
I. Strong Tower
The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. Proverbs 18:10
I love this verse and the promise that when I run to the Lord, I … am …. safe!
A. Safety
Strong Tower is one of the many names of God, but is specifically used here to mean of a place of refuge, - shelter - or sanctuary. A safe place. When the storms of life get tough we need a place where we can go and feel safe. Back home on Smith Island one of the Islanders favorite hymns is “Til the Storm Passes By. It reflects how God keeps us safe during life’s fierce storms, by giving us a safe place or refuge in the “hollow” of His hand. We know that God will put the walls of safety around us and protect us until the storm or trial is finished, when we look to Him for refuge or shelter.
A Simple Definition of safety is freedom from harm or danger; state of being safe; a place that is free from harm or danger.
The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.
As I read this verse, I picture a small child running to a parent, when they are afraid or hurting and the child finding comfort and the feeling of being safe in their parent’s arms. Do you remember this feeling? - As believers we do the same when we turn to God during our life’s trials and storms. The word righteous here refers to the ones who know Him; those who are worthy (justified and blameless by God. We must have a relationship with God and trust that Jesus died on the cross for us in order to be able to be able to take advantage of this safety. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). On the cross, Jesus exchanged our sin for His perfect righteousness so that we can one day stand before God and He will see not our sin, but the holy righteousness of the Lord Jesus. If you haven’t already accepted Christ as savior, I ask you to do this today, you can talk to any one of the ladies here, the staff at FSB, or your pastor to help you do this.
Psalm 4:8
In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
Even though the storms of life may come upon us we know that God is with us. We know that we can withstand the storm and make it to the “bright peaceful shore”. Until our storm has ended. We see this in Joshua 1:9
Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
This is amazing to me, that God is with me all the time, it gives me so much comfort knowing this. What storms are you facing today? Are you going through them alone? Do you fear the future? Are you wondering if your school bill will get paid? Are you thinking about where God is leading you? About conflicts with family or friends?
We all have had or are having storms in our lives, and We should remember that when these storms come, we will become stronger in character and refined by our storm. I remember that when I was going through my rough storm, that took me through surgery, having my head shaved, 5 months of rehab, learning to walk, and the cognitive therapy, my refuge was with God, turning to the scriptures every day.
So we learned that safety is the state of being safe, and now we can see that God keeps us safe by protecting us.
B. Protection
When you think of wild ponies, where do you picture them? In a field? In a valley? Well, how about on a beach? These ponies live on an island in Maryland, not far from Tylerton, Maryland where we call home. It’s a place we love to go and visit whenever we can. It seems that they came to be on Assateague Island because of a shipwreck off it’s coast. This is a very unusual place for ponies to live, but they’ve been there for 100’s of years and are now protected by the federal government and cared for by skilled veterinarians.
What does it mean to be protected? It’s the action of protecting someone or something, or the state of being protected – guarded, shielded.
These ponies are protected. As God’s children are we protected? Just as parents protect their children, YES - G- o-d protects us. Can you think of a time when something bad should have happened but didn’t?
I know in my life there have been many times when God has put that wall around my family and kept us from harm, one time that comes to mind is when we were working for the camp in New Brunswick, Canada. Mark was assistant Director, and I was in charge of the horses…. We were to pick up two mules that were donated to the camp, and were traveling to Nova Scotia, the weather got bad, the roads were slick; a typical Canadian winter day. A minivan thought that they should pass us, and as they did it begun to spin out. How that van missed our bumper I will never know, but God had put up that wall, and wrapped us in safety,
In
Psalm 91:4 it reads
He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
Have you ever seen a hen, gather up her chicks and bring them in under her wings, all tucked in, neat and safe; can’t you just feel the safety that those little chicks have? This is exactly what God did for my family and can do for you too!
That is only one of many examples I could give you where God has wrapped us in protection.
Not only does God, our Strong Tower, give us safety and protection, but He also is our Compassionate One.
II. Compassion
Compassion is the sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others. The word compassion in the Hebrew is the same word as mercy and is interchangeable.
Psalm 103:8 says:
The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
(NASB, Holman both say compassionate)
Did you get that? He is s-lo-w to anger! He is a--b-o-u-n-d-i-n-g (overflowing, generous,) in steadfast (committed, steady, reliable (dependable) love.
We could say that God has steadfast love galore!
Don’t you want someone in your life who doesn’t become angry with you? Someone who is overflowing with their love toward you? God Himself offers this kind of love and compassion – He wants to be your Someone.
Mercy
We all feel compassion, it may be felt toward a helpless pet at an animal shelter, it could be our elderly neighbor, most cases it is someone or something less fortunate than ourselves.
God has compassion for us, He created us and he loves us. (John 3:16) If He did not have compassion for us, I imagine He would have squished us like a bug long ago, just like we do to mosquitos and other biting pests that annoy us and cause us misery. I know that God had compassion for my family when I got the brain infection 15 months ago, He knew that Mark needed his wife, that Emma and Josh weren’t ready to be without their mother, and baby Jude really needed to know his grandmother. So instead of taking me home, He healed me and gave me more time to serve Him. That is compassion and love!
1. Forgiveness
In October 2006, after the shooting of 10 young schoolgirls in a one-room Amish school, reporters from throughout the world invaded Lancaster County, PA to cover the story. In the hours and days following the shooting a different, an unexpected story developed.
In the midst of their grief over this shocking loss, the Amish community didn't cast blame, they didn't point fingers, they didn't hold a press conference with attorneys at their sides. Instead, they reached out with grace and compassion toward the killer's family.
The afternoon of the shooting an Amish grandfather of one of the girls who was killed expressed forgiveness toward the killer, Charles Roberts. That same day Amish neighbors visited the Roberts family to comfort them in their sorrow and pain.
After Charles Roberts cold-bloodedly shot 10 innocent Amish school girls, the Amish essentially wnd immediately forgave him and showed compassion toward his family.
In a world at war and in a society that often points fingers and blames others, this reaction was u-n-h-e-a-r-d- o-f. Many reporters and fascinated followers of the story asked, "How could they forgive such a terrible, unprovoked act of violence against innocent lives?" The answer to that is the Amish culture closely follows the teachings of Jesus, who taught his followers to forgive one another, to place the needs of others before themselves, and to rest in the knowledge that God is still in control and can bring good out of any situation. Love and compassion toward others is to be life's principle. Vengeance and revenge is to be left to God.
I just gave you an example of how we should respond with compassion and forgiveness. The amazing thing is, is that God does this for us, His compassion leads to forgiveness and we need to show it to others. Look at some passages with me regarding Biblical forgiveness and love toward others and we will better understand how the Amish were able to forgive.
Psalm 103:10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
This verse shows us God’s compassion, forgiveness and love toward us. Satan loves to tell us otherwise as we see in our hymn “Til The Storm Passes By”
Many times Satan whispered, "There is no need to try,
For there's no end of sorrow, there's no hope by and by"
But I know Thou art with me, and tomorrow I'll rise
Where the storms never darken the skies.
Have you ever just wanted to give up? This is what Satan is trying to get us to do here, but we know as we look at psalm 103
V 9 He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
God will not, blame us, or reprimand us, he just wants us to look to Him, and worship Him.
Psalm 103:11-12
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us
If we have accepted what Christ did on the cross for us, all of our sins are forgiven and forgotten. God doesn’t keep coming back and reminding us of all our wrong doings; that is Satan who does that. Once forgiven always forgiven.
t of love and compassion, has forgiven us. We stand righteous before him, and having sin nature if we do fall, all we have to do is what it says in
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
God loves us, and He wants us to be in fellowship with Him, he loves to hear our prayers, and wants nothing more than us to worship Him, the one who created us.
Conclusion
If you’ve ever seen a shipwreck map of the mid Atlantic coastline, then you know that there were a remarkable number of shipwrecks. Before modern navigation, ships used lighthouses and the stars to navigate at night. This worked well until a bad storm came up or heavy fog set in which impaired visibility. This caused ships to get off course and hit sandbars along the coast. This would usually occur during a storm and the large waves would beat the wooden ship apart. It is very likely that original ponies got to Assateague from one of these shipwrecks. The sailors vision was blocked by fog and storms and they did not see the lighthouse their “Strong Tower”. We need to “look to the light” beyond the storms and see that God is guiding us and protecting us to lead us through the storms to safety.
We should look to God as our light because He is our strong tower and compassionate one.
I know that when times get rough for me, I want to find a safe place to run and hide. How about you? Do you want to plow through on your own – with the attitude “I Can Do this!” “I’ll find a way. I can make this work!” or do you see that place of safety? I want that place of safety and I imagine you do too. But where do we look for it? Are we looking to people to give us a safe haven – maybe a close friend, a boyfriend or husband? Or what about security – do we seek financial gain thinking it will deep us safe? I challenge us all today to determine to look to T-H-E- true light – to purpose to seek the Lord and allow Him the total control of our life knowing we are safe and protected under His wings.
I challenge us to get to know the Lord more personally through His Word and really begin to understand what He is like. When we are convinced of God’s amazing love and care for us it is easy to submit to His safe place and protection.
Remember what God has already done through His Son Jesus – there has never been a greater gift.
Remember that it is God alone who makes us dwell in safety.
Don’t we all need compassion? Do we always deserve compassion? No, I do many things wrong every day – I don’t always deserve it. But that’s one of the things I cherish most about God is that His compassions are new every morning! I am frail and human and I am always in need of God’s forgiveness and mercy. What about you? Do you feel in need of God’s compassion?
To keep your eyes on the light we must r-e-m-em-b-e-r that God is merciful, gracious. Slow to anger and abounding in mercy.
When we make the wrong choices – hen we totally mess up – do we run from the Lord? Do we allow a fog, so to speak, surround us and keep us from looking to the light? What we need is forgiveness and mercy, but often we run because we think we are so undeserving. We ARE undeserving – but that’s why God’s compassion is so incredible – the way the very nature of mercy and forgiveness is for the undeserving. Choose to focus on who God is and not allow a fog to hinder you.
Let’s commit to keep our eyes on the Light BECAUSE God is the compassionate one. Let’s determine not to run from God during our times of failure, but to run to Him for His mercy and compassion that He so willingly gives.
God IS the compassionate one. I plead with you to allow Him to be this for you.
