"He Gives Me Shelter!"

"O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely." (S.O.S. 2:14)

  The verse that comes to mind is Matthew 16:18, where Jesus declares, "That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." As many will try to say, Peter was the rock Jesus was referring to; but as many of us know, it was not the man, but what was said, why it was said, and how important what was said is; that that is the ultimate power of heaven, manifested in the flesh, to save all mankind, and defeat the powers of darkness forevermore!
  You can see it any way you like, but the way I see this, this is exactly the kind of attitude we should have to enter into God's presence: We should be as a the mourning dove, hiding for the shame and the bitterness of our iniquities, on so many levels; yet, in this state of feeling discouraged and afraid, He calls us out into the open and covers us with His light; His light that reflects off of His dove, an object now of spender and beauty. This is what it is like to come to the cross, where we lay down every sin; giving Him the right to wash us; not just our feet, but every single bit of us, from the inside out!
  Where ever you are in your life, this is the most important thing we can do; whether we are high on the mountain top, or in the lowest valley, this is where our Shelter is found! I wish I could say that the mountain tops were the easiest places to find Shelter, but those usually are not! Instead, it is on those mountain tops where we are most likely to create our own sort of shelter; something that makes us a little more sure of ourselves.
  This was part of a message yesterday at church, as Pastor John shared about how Peter thought that they ought to build three tabernacles there on the mountain where Jesus was "transfigured." This is what we do, as we try and hold onto the moment, trying to take that which is supernatural and of God, to somehow make it something that we can use on our own, whenever we feel we might need to use it.
  Oddly enough, it was Christ that was "transfigured" before them; whether it was their ability to see Him, or it was His ability to be change, it was still He that caused it to happen! Only Christ can change us, no matter when and where we are, it is only He that can change us; only He can call us out of the darkness and into the Light...

"What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God be for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him for us all, won't he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one -for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one- for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us." (Romans 8:31-34) NLT