Daily Devotion

June 8, 2006

Psalms 27:5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

The ungodly, the ”worldling”, has to rely upon himself for safety and protection. He lives by his own means; he has established his own righteousness; has become his own kingdom, with its own god: himself!  He therefore has to provide for his own safety and protection with locks and security guards of all sorts, so much so that his house becomes his own prison.  

It is not so with the child of God.  One who delights to do God’s will and whose righteousness is God’s Law (Psa 40:8), one whose perpetual desire is to live close to God, owns the host of heaven for his protection.

In old-times warfare, the royal pavilion was situated in the middle of the army camp.  Day and night, guards rotated shifts to protect it; there was no safer place in the whole camp.  Priests also protected the tabernacle of the Lord with their own lives; they would die to keep the impure from entering the Holy of Holies, and some lost their lives keeping the Ark from falling into the hands of foreign invaders.  

But most importantly, the highest protection is the salvation of your soul redeemed by the King himself.  Once the King has purchased your soul, there is no way possible that the enemy can own it again.  

So my friend, do you long for peace from the constant warfare that seems to plague your soul?  Do you long for safety from the unceasing onslaught of the enemy upon your spirit?  Do not do as the ungodly who has to provide for his own safety, but remember that your salvation, and your desire to be close to your LORD, to dwell in His house, reveling in His beauty (Psa 27:4) is your never failing  protection.  

Linguistic note:  
The word translated as ‘rock” in our English Bibles is not always the same word in the Hebrew text. In this text, the word “rock” is the Hebrew “tsur”. “Tsur” is the same word for rock used in the following verses: Exodus 17:6; 33:21; Deut 8:15; 32:4; 32:13, 15,18, 31,37; and many others referring Jesus and salvation.

Patrick Lumbroso
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