Hand of God – Devotion for
As I have mentioned before, my family and I have a beautiful Golden Retriever named Riley. As Riley has gotten older, it seems that he has become more and more afraid of thunderstorms. Riley is a better weatherman than the dudes on TV because you can seem him start pacing around back and forth, and you know a storm is coming. Riley is usually an outside dog, however over the past year, whenever a storm comes up Riley has just taken off running through the radio fence that we use, and he just runs. So after having Riley cleaned and groomed a few weeks ago, we decided to bring him into the house for a bit to see how he could potentially adjust to being an indoors dog. He loved it, and he was so good – he would lay right on a blanket that we had set out for him. He was perfectly behaved, and even though the cats would come up and give him a punch, he would not bite them at all. The only problem we had with him was keeping him from eating the cat food.
That first night that we had him in, the weatherman was calling for thunderstorms. So we got Riley to come into the bedroom and shut the door so he wouldn’t be roaming the house in the middle of the night. Hours into our restful, peaceful night we were awoken by the rumble of the predicted storm. Riley was so nervous – panting, pacing, and trying to crawl under the bed – which is a very difficult thing for a 90 lb. Golden Retriever to do. Riley would not stop pacing and walking around as he was so frightened by the storm outside. We would gently call his name and tell him to lie down, and he would for a moment, but then he would be right back up. Finally I called Riley to my side of the bed, and I got him to lie down on the floor right beside me. I dropped my hand over the side of the bed, and I placed it upon Riley, and something happened. Riley stilled. As long as my hand was upon him he would actually put his head down on the floor and rest. I thought he was asleep, so I pulled my hand up and rolled over, and within a minute Riley was back up panting and pacing. So I had him come over again and I placed my hand upon him, and I fell back asleep with my hand on him – and Riley fell asleep in the peace that I was with him.
This morning in my devotion time I read Psalm 46, and this particular verse stood out to me: “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10). I do recognize that in the context of the entire psalm, this verse is actually a direction to quit fighting with one another, but today it just stood out to me because we all fight many kinds of battles. We fight battles with our fears, our sins, our temptations, and all other sort of predicaments. In the midst of those battles, we too should hear the voice of God and feel His hand as He says to us, “Cease striving and know that I am God.” In the midst of you battle today, call out to God, seeking to feel His hand that will give you the peace in the midst of your storm.
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