Run Like Crowbar

By Jerry D. Ousley

            When we were kids, we lived in a country place that was about a mile from a dump.  You don’t see many dumps these days and the ones you do see are called “Land Fills.”  At land fills there are people running bulldozers all day, covering up the trash that is brought there for a fee.  But then it was a dump.  Anyone could fill up their pickup truck with whatever, haul it to the dump and throw it out.

            My Dad is a wonderful man.  For a man who lacked formal education, in many ways he made up for it in common sense.  But he loved the dump.  He was the fulfillment of the old saying that “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”  When he’d take a load to the dump, often he’d return with a load – a load of stuff people had discarded that he would fix up, or clean up and use. That’s where we got our famous “ding-ding bowl” which is a story for another article.

            One particular trip to the dump yielded a rooster.  Yes, you read right, a rooster.  He was apparently just running around in the dump.  Again, Dad is a great guy, but he thinks about things, comes up with his own theory as to why something is or how something happened and in his mind that becomes the fact of the matter.  He decided that the rooster had been a fighting cock and had been beaten and so the owner dropped him off at the local dump.

            Dad brought him home and dutifully named him Crowbar.  He may have been right in his assumption because that was the most cowardly rooster I’d ever seen in my life. He took up residence at our house and became one of us.  We also had a couple of dogs and if the dogs decided to get after Crowbar and Dad was outside, that crazy rooster would run to Dad, stand right between his legs and look at those dogs.  I thought one time I say Crowbar stick his tongue out and give them the raspberries.  Standing between Dad’s legs it was as if he looked the dogs in the eye and said, “na-na-na-naw-boo-boo!” I’ll make my own assumption now, because that rooster felt safe standing there between Dad’s legs.

            This story got me to thinking about Psalm 91.  Verses 1-10 say: “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.’  Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence.  He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.  You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.  A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you.  Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked.  Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling.”  Wow!  What a promise!

            Now, in all practicality, when we run to the Lord, we aren’t always immediately protected from evil.  Bad things do happen to good people.  Sometimes the believer does die from cancer.  Christians are executed because of their belief in Jesus Christ. Believers have rotted in prison, died as slaves, been fed to lions, and treated horribly because of their faith. Just take a look at Hebrews 11.  I’ve seen elderly Christians suffer horribly from sickness and disease.

            But take a deep, long look into the eyes of those mistreated believers, for in them you will see a sparkle.  It is a knowing that despite physical circumstances no devil, no demon, no hater of the Gospel, no murderer and no amount of persecution can steal away what security God has placed in their hearts because they have put their trust in God.  They have made Him their dwelling place.  They do abide in His shadow.  They have run between His legs, and under the shadow of His protection.  No evil shall overcome them.  No inflicted pain caused by man or the curse of sickness and disease on this planet can separate them from God and His love.  Paul wrote, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39). 

            So, the next time you come under attack run like Crowbar!  Run under the shadow of the Almighty.  Flee to the Protector of your soul. Regardless what the enemy may do to our body he can never conquer us while we abide in God’s presence.  We can sneer at the dogs of life because we are in our dwelling – the very presence of God Himself.  Run to Him, run like Crowbar!

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.?  Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.