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Singing Psalm 17 you rest in his protection
Singing Psalm 17 you rest in his protection outwardly
When you hear the phrase “rest in his protection,” whose protection do you seek to rest in?
Do you look to rest in the protection of a father, brother, friend, or husband?
The ‘his’ in “rest in his protection” is the triune God. He is all of that to you and more.
You might protect yourself and your loved ones using house and car locks, body armor, arms and ammunition. You could put a plan in place to make a quick getaway. You want the ability to defend against and flee from a potential enemy.
You also might protect your body by shoring up its defenses, its immunity against toxins by the way you eat, sleep, exercise, and manage stress. You wear your seatbelts and get periodic health screenings. You get your family in for well check ups and sick visits.
But how do you rest in his protection for your physical well-being and that of others?
Do you worry as you do these things as if it all depends on you, alternating between shame when you fail and pride when you succeed?
The things that you think to do are a means of grace from God. He supplies these thoughts to bless you and others. He is the source of your security. You can rest in his protection physically because you trust him enough to confide in him and talk through each thought that precedes each word you say and each thing you do.
“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” ~ Psalm 20:7
“‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.” ~ Zechariah 4:6
You might count money as a means of protection to be able to buy what is needed to sustain life.
But how do you rest in his protection for provisions?
Does your sense of security go up and down with the amount of money in your bank account?
The cattle on 1000 hills are his. You thank him for supplying what is needed, and you rest in his protection that meets your needs how and when he thinks best.
You remind him of the details about work that renders money coming in and bills that allocate money going out. With the spreadsheet laid out before him, you trust him and rest in his protection.
“For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.” ~ Ecclesiastes 7:12
“Save me from worldly men
Buy your own hand, O Lord,
From men who have beyond this life
No vision or reward.
“You fill them with good things;
Their sons are satisfied.
They leave their children all the wealth
Which they have set aside.
“But I in righteousness
Your face will surely see;
And with Your likeness, when I wake,
I satisfied will be.” ~ Psalm 17:14-15
“You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you… when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety.” ~ Deuteronomy 12:8-10
When you first come to Christ by faith, you begin to find words that describe what he provides. Those words keep you thankful as you embark on the journey of a lifetime to rest in his protection. The triune God provides a sure friendship that is both the wind in your sails and your anchor when you face relationship challenges.
You spread before him all of your plans and rest in his protection with how you use time and trust him for the amount of time you are given.
You resolutely rest in his protection when you travel as he gives you traveling mercies whether moving by foot, on roads, off road, on rails, or in the air.
You sweetly rest in his protection that keeps you from being harried and late to things.
The Lord, and not anyone else, is your fixed point of reference. Because he is not moving away from you even if everyone else is, you can rest in his protection.
Like Jonah, if you are his, he will find you and set you on the path that leads you to himself using whatever means he chooses to do it. Even in the belly of a large fish, you rest in his protection.
You rest in his protection, no matter what happens to you outwardly. You trust that he sees, hears, and will answer rightly in his perfect time.
Once you have formed habits, they’re a knee jerk response. Forming new habits can be difficult — you are having to fight yourself to stop doing what is ingrained in you to do. At the same time you must think about the new habit you are trying to establish.
You can rest in his protection because God knows what you need, is true to his promises, and cares for you enough to supply everything you need for life and godliness. All that you need according to God’s will is available just for the asking as long as you are willing to persevere and wait for it.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Talk to him. Have constant, unceasing conversations with him. He made you run on communication with him like a car runs on gas or electric.
The talking therapies might be more helpful if those who lead them would direct people to talk with God since it was his idea to talk things out in the first place. Your secure relationship with the triune God creates the atmosphere you need to rest in his protection.
His Word is truth, the majority party that sets free those who are willing to subdue their feelings as the minority party.
Talking with God implies a whole lot of listening. God speaks to you in his Word. God listens as you respond to it, interact with it. You listen to what he promises, warns, and commands, by believing, heeding, and obeying.
You can have a new start by listening to Jesus about not worrying about what to eat or drink or wear since your Heavenly Father knows what you need right when you need them.
You can take Jesus up on his true claims and rest in his protection and provision as the bread of life, the living water, and the good shepherd. You can talk to him and trust him before talking to people and trusting them.
Know that God is not only near you, and with you, but that he is in you. His making his home with you is the surest way to rest in his protection.
When someone wants to make a home with you, it is a process, a joyful process. It is not a harried burden. It takes time — the best time you ever spent. You get to know one another over time and love one another more and more with each passing day.
This doesn’t mean you won’t have trouble, but you can rest in his protection through the trouble because he is right there with you in every aspect of the trouble.
When you know who he is that is with you, you can rest in his protection.
“On You, O God, my soul has called,
For You will answer me.
O listen to my earnest words!
Incline your ear to me!
“In wondrous and amazing ways
Your loving kindness show;
Your right hand saves those trusting You,
To hide them from the foe.” ~ Psalm 17:6-7
Singing Psalm 17 you rest in his protection inwardly
God doesn’t just protect your body just as you don’t bring only your body to church. He protects your heart and mind, soul and strength so that you can love him and your neighbor deeply not only when you go to church but also throughout the week.
The Lord doesn’t just protect you meal-to-meal. You rest in his protection thought-to-thought. He even gives you endless fuel for thought in his Word that will occupy you for life.
You rest in his protection as he protects you from yourself by giving you the gift that keeps on giving: repentance every time you sin.
It’s easy to fear that by denying yourself you would somehow be untrue to yourself. The triune God will help you to comprehend how you can still be true to yourself while at the same time denying yourself.
The two are not mutually exclusive.
You can rest in his protection to provide the time and maturity it will take for that realization to materialize.
Know Jesus is right there with you, protecting you as he helps you carry your cross and follow him. Happily letting go of your own agenda is possible only when you rest in his protection.
You securely rest in his protection when you feel sideways. At times, you will have strong feelings about things. At other times your feelings will be blunted or delayed.
To be sure, you can ask the Lord to give you the feelings and memories you need when you need them and to suspend them when you don’t.
You develop detailed language for what he provides for you that fills your soul deeply as you communicate every nuance as you rest in his protection even more.
Your identity is not in your social status. Your identity is not in being rich or poor, slave or free, Greek or Jew, male or female. You calmly rest in his protection over your identity that is solid and secure in Christ.
“As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!’ But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!’” ~ Luke 11:28
He packaged his Word in written form so that you could return to it again and again and again, reading it, hiding it in your heart, meditating on it, and richly living it out each day of your life.
Singing Psalm 17 you rest in his protection and invite others to as well
You rest in his protection as he keeps you from being hurt through misunderstandings. He gives you patience, long-suffering, and kindness in difficult human encounters.
You rest in his protection when you would otherwise worry about whether or not people are thinking of you. If they are, you’d be quite concerned to know what they are thinking unless you rest in his protection from people addiction.
You rest in his protection from your folly by seeking his wisdom. When you are careful to follow Jesus, who is with you and in you, who is wisdom incarnate, you can surely make wise choices with moral goodness.
You rest in his protection when you are dumbfounded on how to respond, what to say, remembering the chosen covenant relationship between you and the triune God. The Lord will give you redemptive words to say to protect your heart.
You rest in his protection to keep you from comparing yourself to others being satisfied with who God made you to be.
You cannot help but offer those you love to rest in his protection as you do.
But how can you rest in his protection if you are busy trying to protect him?
“Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” ~ Luke 8:19-20
Like Jesus’s mother and brothers, do you sometimes feel the need to protect or to defend the Almighty God and his Word of truth?
“The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.” ~ Augustine of Hippo
Jesus clues you in to an easy way to access and to rest in his protection:
“But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” ~ Luke 8:21
Picture a little child hiding (you) in the arms of a strong man (the triune God) who is glaring down at those who were attempting to hurt the child (the devil and his followers).
Fear not the one who can only destroy the body. The One who can destroy both body and soul chose to redeem them both in Christ!
In relationships, you can rest in his protection, even when someone outwardly humiliates you, rejects you, or doesn’t want to have much to do with you. Their actions do not diminish the Lord’s love and nearness to you one iota.
If you really are just passing through, and this world is not your home, then when you don’t feel at home in it, your heart can rest in his protection that extends into eternity.
When the world gets you down and things don’t go as you want them to, you have no friend like the triune God who beckons you to be right at home with him starting here and now no matter what all the world is doing.
You confidently rest in his protection that keeps you from burning out due to overscheduling or relying on yourself or others rather than on him. You rest in his protection to do no more and no less of what he has prepared in advance for you to do.
God’s got you covered so you can rest in his protection. Since he cares so much for you, you don’t have to. He opens your heart to care more for others, but you cannot out give him.
He delights that you unburden your cares for others onto his lap. In return, he richly blesses your attitude to bless others.
“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” ~ Luke 6:37-38
In his otherness and for his glory which is drenched in his mercy, the triune God desires for you to rest in his protection. He invites you to constantly consult with him about everything and everyone that concerns you.
He is unfathomable in his ability to hear everyone all at once perfectly. You unabashedly rest in his protection as you converse openly with him.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.“ ~ Matthew 11:28-30
He’s who you follow. He’s who you fear in reverence and awe. It’s a wonder that you can lavishly rest in his protection and invite others to share in the shelter of his wings that are big enough to cover all.
You are thankful beyond words.
“Keep me the focus of your eye;
Beneath your wings, me hide” ~ Psalm 17:8
March 17 – 24, 2023