i have a shelter

Great song by Sovereign Grace Music, on the album Come Weary Saints:

I have a shelter in the storm
When troubles pour upon me
Though fears are rising like a flood
My soul can rest securely
O Jesus, I will hide in You
My place of peace and solace
No trial is deeper than Your love
That comforts all my sorrows

I have a shelter in the storm
When all my sins accuse me
Though justice charges me with guilt
Your grace will not refuse me
O Jesus, I will hide in You
Who bore my condemnation
I find my refuge in Your wounds
For there I find salvation

I have a shelter in the storm
When constant winds would break me
For in my weakness, I have learned
Your strength will not forsake me
O Jesus, I will hide in You
The One who bears my burdens
With faithful hands that cannot fail
You’ll bring me home to heaven

all things

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” -Col. 1:15-17

All things were created through Christ, and for Christ, to show us Christ, that we might glorify Christ. It’s quite an exercise to stop and look around, and think about “all things” that God has created for the purpose of revealing his Son to us. God created bread and the concept and feeling of hunger so that he could say, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35) We as humans can resonate with this analogy. We know what it’s like to feel physically hungry. Here, Christ is referring to a deeper hunger all humans possess; a spiritual hunger that only Christ can fill. Christ satisfies our spiritual hunger like a warm meal satisfies our empty stomachs.

God created light and darkness so we could better grasp, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5) We know what it looks like for a lamp to be turned on in a dark room, suddenly the room isn’t dark, the light illumines and dispels the darkness around it. It is impossible for darkness and light to co-exist. Christ has entered this world bringing life to dead things just as light enters a dark room.

There are thousands and thousands of these pictures, all revealing Christ; marriage and the role of husbands and wives (Eph. 5:25), a vine that bears fruit, (John 15:4), a shepherd and sheep (John 10:11), our nakedness and clothes (Gen. 3:21), the cornerstone of a building (1 Peter 2:6), snakes (Numbers 21:9), a cleft in a rock (Ex. 33:22), adoption (Gal. 4:5). God even uses the evil things in the world to serve as pictures of his great love towards us; He is the redeemer of the prostitute/sinner (Hosea 3:1), He has come to set free the slave (Gal. 5:1).

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” (Ps. 19:1)

joy, an unsatisfied desire

“…it is that of an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction. I call it Joy, which is here a technical term and must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and from Pleasure. Joy (in my sense) has indeed on characteristic, and one only, in common with them; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again. Apart from that, and considered only in its quality, it might almost equally well be called a particular kind of unhappiness or grief. But then it is a kind we want. I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But then Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is.” -Lewis, Surprised by Joy