“I run for dear life to God, I’ll never live to regret it. Do what you do so well: get me out of this mess and up on my feet. Put your ear to the ground and listen, give me space for salvation. Be a guest room where I can retreat; you said your door was always open! You’re my salvation—my vast, granite fortress.” (Psalm 71:1-3 The Message Bible)
Have you ever been on a long trip where weariness was overcoming your being and you were consumed with worry about your ability to go further? Did you take the nearest exit once you realized you needed to rest and be reassured of a safe journey when you continued your trip? One more question. Did you look for a room that you could enter and be revived and find renewed strength? Many people have literally been in that situation and all they could see were “No Vacancy” signs from the most expensive to the least expensive hotel or motel after exiting to search for a temporary retreat. Unable to find a place, you drove on, worn out and still, your weariness did not abandon you. Thank God for traveling mercy and for watching your going out and coming back in! For without Him, you would not have made it. I’ve been there and I agree with the Psalmist, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!”
On your spiritual journey, there will be times where you will be overcome by a mess, many problems, major difficulties, or mainly the rest that we all need at some time or the other. There will be times when you will need to get away. Well, let me tell you that you do not have to worry or wonder if you can find a place to retreat. The Lord is not only on the mainline where you can tell Him all about it, “Call Him Up and tell Him what you want,” but He also has a guest room, and His door is always open. You don’t have to take an exit off the highway, you just need to keep traveling up the highway to heaven and enter boldly, and go to the throne of grace. Once at the guest room, there you will find more than a place of retreat. Your will find a place of reassurance, a place where revival can take place to carry you forward in life, a place where your spiritual awareness of the fact that the Lord is your everlasting portion, and you can be resuscitated! Oh, at the guest room; at God’s house, when you go to Him in prayer, you will find refuge! You will find a rock, a granite fortress! You will find a rescuer!
Whatever comes up today that prompts concerns that are either minor or major, be sure to take a break, make time to go to the guest room. There, you will not find a “No vacancy sign!” There you will find just what you need! There, the Lord Himself will meet you at the front desk of grace and mercy to check you in and talk with you, not just talking for the sake of talking, but talking you through your immediate concerns or whatever is coming against you! The Lord, yes, He is good! If you agree with me, say aloud wherever you are right now, “Amen!” Say it so somebody can hear you! Be blessed!
“A Message from the high and towering God, who lives in Eternity, whose name is Holy: “I live in the high and holy places, but also with the low-spirited, the spirit-crushed, and what I do is put new spirit in them, get them up and on their feet again.” (Isaiah 57:15 The Message Bible)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King