Did you ever get in trouble as a kid and try to hide from your Mom? Some of you may remember when families kept a "folding bed" tucked away for guests who visited and spent the night. Basically they were like a sofa-bed except they could be moved more easily. It was a regular bed with "springs" and a mattress, 4 wheels, it folded in the middle, had latches on the top, and when you unfolded it, it became a bed that could be used, then folded and stored away till the next batch of company showed up. They are becoming popular again and are great for when the grandkids visit. And for kids, they can be a great place to hide when they are folded.
When I was a child we had one. It stayed "folded" and out of the way until we had company, and one of the funniest stories my Mama would tell was about one of us kids, (not me) and the folding bed.
One of the "kids" did something he or she shouldn't have done, knew they "were going to get it" and ran and hid in the folded up folding bed. Well Mama couldn't find him/her anywhere, then she noticed the folding bed and saw his/her feet sticking out of that folded up bed and got so tickled she could not bring herself to punish him/her.
I hadn't thought of that story for years until I read Psalm 11.
v1: In the Lord put I my trust; how say you to my soul, "Flee as a bird to your mountain?"
David knew what it meant to hide. For 10 years he hid from Saul and then he spent years hiding from his son, Absalom. He had put his trust in the Lord and now he hears God speak to his soul and say, "Flee, just like a bird who is pursued by an enemy flees to the safety of the mountain."
David had spent most of his life in the fields and the woods and the mountains. Don't you know that many times he watched as a bird being pursued by a larger bird or animal flew higher and higher until it reached safety. And how many times he may have watched that bird and longed to be able to fly far, far away. Far away from Saul, and later in life, away from God's eye.
I know what it's like to want to hide and I know what it's like to wish I could "flee". But I also know that there are things to stay and fight for. And in this post I want to share with you 2 situations; in one of them we stand and fight, and in the other we flee. The secret is having the spiritual discernment to know which to do at just the right time; our testimony and our effectiveness depend on staying or fleeing.
v3; If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
Foundations are important, right? Does it matter what kind of foundation your house is built upon? It sure does.A foundation is something you lay down first, and in today's building code, that foundation is cement or steel, depending on what is being built. Then layer by layer you lay down the right material in the right order and when you do it right, you have built something that will last and stand the test of time.
So let's do some building; let's build a marriage. What is the foundation that a lasting marriage is built upon?
1. Love for God, love for each other.
2. Respect.
3. Trust.
4. Faithfulness; to each other and to the marriage.
5. Forgiveness.
6. Patience. (ouch)
7. Work together as a team.
8. Commitment to the marriage.
9. Endurance.
10. Choosing to look for the good, refusing to allow bitterness to grow.
Ladies, we are at a crisis level in our world today. The 2 targets on satan's hit list are the family and church and in that order. Your family starts with the foundation of your marriage and then on that foundation you build a foundation in your children. If he can destroy the family then he will succeed in destroying the fabric of our society and he is targeting our kids. We stay and fight for marriage and family.
This fall tv viewing season is said to be a record setting season for the number of shows that do not depict the traditional family, and this is how you stay and fight:
Educate yourself about what your kids are viewing on tv, reading, the music they listen to, who their friends are, and pay close attention to what they are wearing. In other words, get real nosey. Who told you you had to respect their privacy? You are MOM and studies show and I firmly believe that kids today are "needy" for an "on sight" Mom and Dad who love them too much to respect their privacy. Commercials, shows, movies, books, and music that portray families as anything other than a Mom and Dad are targeting your children to help develop in them a tolerance for open sin and tolerance for lifestyles that are not biblical. (I know there are many single parents today doing a fantastic job and I know a few of them personally. Keep it up! That isn't the subject of this post; please keep reading and you'll see what I mean.)
For example; when you watch a movie or tv show and 2 people who are married to other people decide to have an affair, does it shock you? Probably not because our generation grew up being conditioned that, "Hey, that's life." Why? Because there is a crumble in our foundation and we have developed a tolerance for the adultery we see portrayed, cursing and taking God's name in vain, nudity, exploitation of women and children and they are so common place that we aren't even fazed by it. And the result; we are helping satan accomplish his purpose, crumble by crumble.
So how do we stay and fight? We get back to Bible morality. We read it for ourselves, ask God to give us His convictions for how we are to live our lives, and then we speak up; first, in our homes and to our own children, then we don't remain silent when issues come up at work, in the school, in our community, or in our relationships. We don't hide away and let our foundation begin to crumble: we take a stand and we fight!!
But when do we flee? When a man who is not your husband begins to notice you a little too much, or makes you feel awkward or uncomfortable, that's our God-given 6th sense that warns us of sexual danger; "that's your cue to flee as bird to your mountain." And if he doesn't stop, tell the appropriate people in your life. Stand up for yourself, you don't have to be treated that way even if it is your boss, or family member, or family friend. If you are married, do not be alone with any man who is not your husband, do not accept gifts from him, and after the first, "you look nice today", don't let it go any further; flee!
We fight by speaking truth into people's lives, and we flee by protecting ourselves and those we love. And yes, even a teenager needs the protection of parents who know the truth and teaches it by how they live their lives. And ladies, our husbands need our protection, too, just as we need his. That's a blog for another time!
Morality, morality, morality; we teach it by taking a stand for it, and we teach it by fleeing when it's time to flee to the mountain.
Whew........I have felt so pressed in my spirit to share this with you. I know it may sound so out of date and old fashioned to some of you, but.....it is the truth.
Questions or comments?
Penny
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