Our Shelter and Our Home

In puzzling, uncertain, and threatening times, we seek protection from our shelter and long for our home. As Christians we know that this security is found in our worship of and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Christians through the ages have found comfort in this sublime hymn by Isaac Watts.

O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.

As our Savior told his disciples at His last supper with them, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me" (John 14:1).

Divine Relationship

The hymn tells us that God is our shelter and our home. To really shelter and be at home with Him is not a matter of inviting Him into our home occasionally when it is convenient and we are in the mood for it. We need to be willing to make changes in our lives that will enable us to be welcomed and sheltered in His. The website Deep Spirituality discusses differences between a surface connection and a secure relationship.

The authors on this site have emphasized how much we mean to God and how much He wants us to confide in him personally: "He really enjoys hearing our real thoughts, feelings, and desires." As our shelter, "He likes being intimately involved in the ups and downs of our lives, giving us strength, carrying our burdens, and leading us to a glorious destiny." He welcomes us to His home to share his heart with us, and he feels our love "when we trust him enough to listen to what he has to say."

Building a close relationship with God requires heart work: slowing down, admitting our real thoughts and feelings, and trusting God instead of ourselves. When we give ourselves to God in this way, he will "change us from the inside out"—blessing our lives with purpose, power, and resulting joy.

These authors have warned us against merely going through routines and rituals of religion, without a genuine relationship with God. When we use the right words thoughtlessly, "some of [our] “prayers” aren’t really prayers but self-talk." We must realize that we can't do the Lord's work when our shelter is this weak.

Other Christian writers give us the perspective of prayer as a "commitment we make toward God" that brings us closer to Him, even (and especially) when we are facing challenges.

As we find joy in our relationship with Christ, many of us become sensitive to those who may be around the edges or over the borders of our shelter and our home. As expressed by Karl. D. Hirst, a lawyer and Christian leader in England, people important in our lives may "seem distant from a sense of divine love." Mr. Hirst suggested a "pattern" for reaching out to them: "doing things that bring us close to God ourselves and then doing things that bring us closer to them—an unspoken beckoning to come to Christ." Opening the door to our shelter and extending a helpful hand, perhaps.

Called to Care

"The Bible is clear that every Christian is called to care for others. This includes generously giving of our time, resources, and ourselves," wrote Josh Weidmann, author of seven books related to religion, parenting, or both.

A New Lens

"First," Josh Weidmann advised, "get your eyes off of yourself." Warning against "being consumed with our own pressures, worries, and fears," he explained, "When you start to care for others, you’ll begin to see the world through a different lens. You’ll be more interested in other people’s lives and what they’re going through."

"Second," Mr.Weidmann, continued, "be honest with God and others." As earthly individuals, we hesitate to reveal our weaknesses, but we must do this. Perhaps we could say that to share our shelter, we have to share how we need it. Showing our own humanness "builds trust and allows others to help us, and in turn, let us in their life to care for them." The website Desiring God identified this as "a mutual bond . . . that Christians have with Christ that unites us in a profound and eternal relationship of love that should express itself in joyful and affectionate service to each other’s good."

"It doesn't require something grand or complicated," assured Dieter F. Uchtdorf, a worldwide Christian leader and administrator from Germany. He suggested some "simple things" that we can share from our hearts: sincere, meaningful prayers; a compliment we truly mean; a favorite scripture shared and discussed; efforts to "help someone feel welcome, respected, valued, and loved."

Heart Vision

Some people seem to have within them—by nature or nurture—a natural comforting/helping sensitivity.

Francois Giraud-Carrier, a professor of business management and economics who leads and supervises large Christian services, wrote of his wife, Isabelle, "Economic status, skin color, cultural background, nationality, degree of righteousness, social standing, or any other identifier or label is of no consequence to her. She sees with her heart; she sees the child of God in everyone."

Isabelle was asked by her Christian leaders to visit a widow who was elderly, ill, lonely, and bitter. She did not accept visitors in her "stuffy" apartment. When Isabelle visited anyway, the woman snapped,

"There is nothing I can do for anyone."

"Yes, there is!" Isabelle replied, You can do something for us by allowing us to come and visit you."

So Isabelle began visiting—"faithfully." When foot surgery required daily changing of this woman's messy bandages, Isabelle was at her home every day to wash her feet and put on clean dressings. Isabelle's husband wrote, "She never saw ugliness; she never smelled stench. She only ever saw a beautiful daughter of God in need of love and tender care." He extended, "Over the years, I and countless others have been blessed by Isabelle’s gift to see as the Lord sees."

Extending and Embracing

Christian groups organize to provide service.

Home and Abroad

For example, Experience Mission reaches out internationally to extend service. One of their traveling teachers and spokespersons, Abbie Thiebaut, leads mission trips where she encourages people to do acts of service throughout the U.S. and extending worldwide. She described the same perspective lived by Isabelle.

To truly model service after Jesus, we really have to believe that, in God’s eyes, everyone else in the room is just as important as us. By positioning ourselves in this way, we force ourselves to leave our personal agenda behind and elevate the importance of each person we are serving. Changing our position naturally leads to doing more to dignify those we serve and puts us a lot more in line with the example of Jesus . . . take the time to get to know people and honor them with a listening ear.

She added, "To serve others well, we need to have faith that we are ultimately serving someone greater."

United in Crisis

The meeting came together "abruptly." The New York City Commission of Religious Leaders had just learned that their city was the "epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic" then arising in the U.S. and that meetings (church and otherwise) would not be taking place. David L. Buchner, a university professor and active Christian leader met remotely with the group—listed in Buckner's account online in sequence as including a cardinal, reverend, rabbi, imam, pastor, and monsignor, as well as his own church leadership position.

David Buchner recalled,

Instead of focusing on our differences, we saw what we had in common. We spoke of possibilities and then probabilities. We rallied and responded to questions about faith and the future. And then we prayed. Oh, how we prayed.

In a richly diverse city filled with complexity and colliding cultures, we saw our differences dissipate as we came together as friends with one voice, one purpose, and one prayer.

Presence for contact forbidden, they looked "heavenward with each other." At each remote meeting that followed, they were "more united and ready to pick up [their] 'shovels' and go to work." Their collaboration enabled service reaching thousands of persons. This group rejoiced in always finding more uniting them than dividing them, recalling the Savior's words, “Be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.”

During the pandemic, all any of us could offer as our shelter and our home was remote contact online. But we did it, and none of us will ever forget what we shared and what we learned.

All My Sheep

This article began with a beautiful and reassuring hymn written by Isaac Watts, and it will end with another one: My Shepherd Will Supply My Need. Because it is a musical setting for the beloved Psalm 23, despite length all three verses are included here so it will not be chopped off and incomplete.

My Shepherd, you supply my need, most holy is your name;
in pastures fresh you make me feed, beside the living stream.
You bring my wand'ring spirit back when I forsake your ways;
you lead me, for your mercy's sake, in paths of truth and grace.

When through the shades of death I walk, your presence is my stay;
one word of your supporting breath drives all my fears away.
Your hand in sight of all my foes, does still my table spread;
my cup with Blessings overflows, your oil anoints my head.

Your sure provisions gracious God attend me all my days;
oh, may your house be my abode, and all my work be praise.
Here would I find a settled rest, while others go and come;
no more a stranger, nor a guest, but like a child at home.

Whether we select the image of the shepherd tenderly caring for the sheep or of the protector providing the refuge of shelter and home, the message is the same. The Lord is our comfort, our strength, and our song.