Psalm 27 – “…The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh…my heart will not fear…even then I will be confident. One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock…”
The other day I wrote an entry about Jesus being our home. About living in Him and finding our safety and security there. Our place of rest and retreat. Psalm 27 gives such a clear picture of that again, using the words house and dwelling and shelter. When I was reading this this morning, I actually giggled. Because I got an extremely clear picture of this in my head. Don’t laugh. Well, okay, you can laugh if you want because it is kind of silly and childish. But in my mind it was a great analogy…the story of The Three Little Pigs.
Remember how all three of the little pigs went out and built a house? The first was out of straw, the second out of sticks. Both were fast and easy and probably looked pretty good from the outside. But neither of them was strong or safe. They weren’t going to withstand bad weather or unwelcome intruders. Which is where the wolf comes in. He asks to come in, they decline with their chinny chin chin phrase and he proceeds to blow each of their homes down. They both end up running to house of the third little pig. The smart one of the bunch. His house was made of bricks. And no matter how hard the enemy wolf huffed and puffed, the three pigs were kept safe in the brick house. It didn’t keep them from the loud threats outside, but they didn’t have to be fearful any more because they knew they were in a safe place. Was it the third little pigs own strength that saved them? No, of course not. It was the strength of the house itself and the little pigs staying inside of that strong shelter.
Now read Psalm 27 again. Can’t you just see it? The trials of life and the threats of the enemy himself huff and puff all around us. We hear it every day. But if Jesus is truly our hiding place, our brick house, we don’t have to fear the threats. We are safe. Will I allow fear to let me lose hope? Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin…
