Daily Prayer Guide ~ April 24 - Sheltering in the City of God

Read:

Psalm 46:1-11

¹ God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble.

² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

³ though its waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with their surging.

⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.

⁵ God is within her, she will not fall;

God will help her at break of day.

⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;

he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

⁷ The Lord Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

⁸ Come and see what the Lord has done,

the desolations he has brought on the earth.

⁹ He makes wars cease

to the ends of the earth.

He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;

he burns the shields with fire.

¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth.”

¹¹ The Lord Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress

Rev 21:1-4

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” ^m for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ ^u or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Consider:

“... the earthly city glories in itself, the Heavenly City glories in the Lord.”
― Augustine of Hippo, City of God

From the beginning to the end of all things, God’s desired intent was to live with his people and for them to live with him. 

From the earliest habitations in the garden, where God walked and talked with the first Adam, to the incarnation of Jesus who lived among us and created the second Adam, to the city of God that David saw, to the final city that John saw, it all points to God’s desire to be with us and us to desire to be with him – always, all days in all time and in all places

In these days, we “shelter at home”, but isn’t this our life’s story?  We long to find shelter on our own?  In these days our freedoms have been restrained, but isn’t this our greatest fear? We want to do what we want to do, when we want to do it – unrestrained and unrestricted.  But that has never been the picture God has of our relationship with him.  Where he desires our community, we desire our autonomy.  Yes we want community – with others, preferably with people who are as much like us as possible and then we can let this thought slip out of our minds, but ‘God is not like us and we are not like him’, but isn’t that what Jesus came to change? To make us like Christ? Then our deepest longing would be for him – above all others. 

As followers of Jesus, we take heart that God is always our refuge and strength, an ever present help when we need it most.  It can be comforting to have a plaque that says ‘be still and know that I am God’ for the times when things have gotten out of control.  We forget that when we live in the city of God, He is always with us and we are secure.  We often live today as if the city of God is a time and place yet to come, as if one day all things will be well and still, at peace and rest.  If Augustine is right in saying of God…

“His knowledge is not like ours, which has three tenses: present, past, and future. God's knowledge has no change or variation.”
― Augustine of Hippo, City of God

If that is true, then God’s knowledge and vision is our reality.  Like waking up to a new morning, we can arise and dwell with God in his beautiful city, today and everyday. 

“The whole of history since the ascension of Jesus into heaven is concerned with one work only: the building and perfecting of this “City of God.”
― Augustine of Hippo, City of God

Today as we shelter at home may we find our shelter in God’s holy City, dwelling with him and experiencing his nature and expression over all creation and where he is drawing the nations to himself so that all of earth will exalt him. 

Prayer: Father, The reality that you have built a city for us to dwell in with you is an overwhelming expression of your grace for which our gratitude can know no terms but our souls cry out to say ‘Thank You!’  Thank you that you long to dwell with us, may we long to dwell with you with an equal fervency. 

·      Thank God that he has made a way for you to live with him everyday of your life.

·      Express to him your longing to dwell with him and find shelter in his presence.

·      Ask him that your life would be an act of praise to him today.

·      Ask that the peoples of the world, from your network to his nations would know him and bring him praise. 

·      Pray for the homeless in our city who are without shelter, Ask God to protect them from COVID-19.

Father, Thank you that in your presence we can find refuge and strength in these difficult days.  May our greatest desire be to be with you and your blessed Son Jesus in whose name we pray,  Amen. 

Meditate:

Revelation 21:3

“ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”