DECEMBER 12, 2014
Snug
As A Bug In A Rug!
Read: Psalm
91:9-16
I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make
me dwell in safety. —Psalm
4:8
When I was a child, my
family lived in a house my father built in the cedar breaks west of
Duncanville, Texas. Our house had a small kitchen-dinette area, two bedrooms,
and a great room with a large stone fireplace in which we burned 2-foot-long
cedar logs. That fireplace was the center of warmth in our home.
There were five people
in our family: my father and mother, my sister, my cousin, and me. Since we had
only two bedrooms, I slept year-round on a porch with canvas screens that
rolled down to the floor. Summers were delightful; winters were cold.
I remember dashing
from the warmth of the living room onto the porch, tiptoeing across the
frost-covered plank floor in my bare feet, leaping into bed and burrowing under
a great mountain of blankets. Then, when hail, sleet, or snow lashed our house
and the wind howled through the eaves like a pack of wolves, I snuggled down in
sheltered rest. “Snug as a bug in a rug,” my mother used to say. I doubt that any
child ever felt so warm and secure.
Now I know the
greatest security of all: God Himself. I can “lie down in peace, and sleep”
(Ps. 4:8), knowing that He is my shelter from the stinging storms of life.
Enveloped in the warmth of His love, I’m snug as a bug in a rug.
Leaning, leaning,
Safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning,
Leaning on the everlasting arms. —Hoffman
No
one is more secure than those who are in God’s hands.
Insight
Psalm 91 celebrates
the safety and security of those who trust in God, who have made the Lord (the
Most High) their refuge, fortress, and dwelling place (vv.2,9). The psalmist
affirms that our God is powerful and faithful and therefore trustworthy
(vv.1-8). He also testifies of God’s protection and deliverance in a dangerous
and destructive world (vv.9-16). In the New Testament, Satan misquoted verses
11-12 to tempt Jesus to test God’s protection by jumping from the top of the
temple (Matt. 4:6). In response, Jesus says that God’s promise is for those who
love and obey Him (Ps. 91:14-15) and not for those who presume upon God’s grace
(Matt. 4:7).
Source:
Our Daily Bread 2012
