The Holy Hug

Preliminary:

Psalm 91

Comment on service

Thank Philip for taking Wed evening service

Psalm 91

I want to talk to you a little this morning on how we draw comfort from God in our times of pain and sorrow.

Psalm 91:1–4 KJV 1900

1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: My God; in him will I trust. 3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, And from the noisome pestilence. 4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, And under his wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

I want to focus on that fourth verse Psalm 91:4

Psalm 91:4 KJV 1900

4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, And under his wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

Everyone in here has experienced some form of pain and loss. It seems those losses and pains have increased in the last couple of years.

March 11, 2020 my 39th birthday was quite a day. We celebrated it as a family, and if I remember correctly made it an all day event. Going to different shops, stores, and restaurants getting birthday freebies and enjoying a meal out. Then the news came out - we were officially in a pandemic COVID-19 was spreading all over and was scary and real.

Then people I knew and loved started getting it, and some of them weren’t able to make it. People I loved, trusted in, depended, looked to for guidance and advice - now they were gone.

It is easy in those times of pain to go into denial, refuse to accept the facts, to hide away and just hope it will go away soon.

It was during this time that we made a trip to Great Bend - we had attempted to make sure we weren’t carrying anything - as we were sitting around the kitchen one day Dad, whose body had been wrecked by Parkinson, who once had a strong voice that could carry across an open air tabernacle without a microphone, was now weak and cracked

His annunciation wasn’t as clear, I had trouble understanding him - but suddenly broke out in a song I had heard him and mom sing many times in church and even at home:

“And I won't walk without Jesus I won't talk without Jesus And I refuse to live one day as before No, I won't go without Jesus It just ain't so without Jesus 'cause everything that I would do I just won't do without the Lord”

I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit slip down into that room as we tried to sing it together - and while I’m sure the Holy Spirit touched dad - it was as though holy arms of love and warmth were wrapped around me I knew who I could trust and depend on.

I was “covered with his feathers, I could trust under his wings.”

Just as a mother hen makes a few little clucks and the little chickens come running and snuggle down under her feathers and feel a security and comfort that nothing else can give them - So God wants to give us that in our times of grief, fear, heartache and loss

I don’t want to be irreverent - but will you let me call it The Holy Hug

I remember as a teenager I wanted to be saved so bad - I was operating under the assumption that I had to be knocked over or it had to be thundered from heaven before I was saved - And in hindsight God was ready to do the work many times if I would have recieved it -

But I distinctly remember one day up in that hot upstairs dorm room praying looking up to heaven and saying:

“Jesus I love you!”

Now I didn’t fully comprehend all that meant to love God but I knew at that moment I loved Him as far as I knew how to.

It was as if someone slipped into that hot room with me

I forgot about late July Missouri heat

I forgot about the paper thin walls

I forgot about my friends who may have been having a good time down in the kitchen our outside

Because HE came and while I don’t want to be overly sensational but it was just as if God Himself wrapped His arms around me and I heard in my heart those words just as clear - “I LOVE YOU TOO”

It was a Holy Hug if you will - and just what I needed

I read about a story in the New Testament where a boy who left Father’s house - went into a far county and wasted his life and money on sinful and evil things. Sin has a way of bringing pain and heartache. But you know the story - the boy came to his senses and decided he was going back to father’s house to live as a servant - they had it better there than he did here

I love how the Bible says it - Luke 15:20 “20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”

Did you catch it - that Holy Hug - the son came home and the Father fell on his neck - hugged him

If you are in pain due to sinful living this morning - we have a Father who loves you and wants you to come home - His arms are wide open to heal your hurt to restore you.

This prodigal son came to God and instead of him running him off - he ran to meet him and he was “Covered with his feathers, he was able to trust under his wings.”

You read later in the Gospels where Jesus had a close friend named Lazarus who got sick and then died - Jesus took his time getting there - we don’t understand why God doesn’t do the most logical things to us sometimes

It would have been so easy for Jesus wherever he was to say Lazarus be well and all of his sickness would have fled, but God didn’t do that.

We prayed and believed for healing for Dad Akard, some even got onto Mom and Dad I think for not believing hard enough - for his healing - but it never came - his health deteriorated and when he caught COVID he hardly moved - it made so much sense to me - for God to just touch and heal him -

But sometimes what God does - doesn’t make sense to us.

I don’t know why God didn’t bring Isiah back up yesterday - I don’t know why God didn’t heal Tom

But there is one thing I know about God - if He doesn’t do what I think He should - He has something better and greater in mind.

And I remember in that story of Lazarus we so often get caught up in the “LAZARUS COME FORTH” part and that is a powerful and glorious moment

but I get hung up on those two little words the shortest verse in the Bible John 11:35 “35 Jesus wept.”

It shows that God - the creator of the universe - the holder and sustainer of everything - stopped in a moment of grief and pain hurt and loss

To cry with them

We have a God who is big enough to cry with us

We have a God who is big enough to comfort us

We have a God who is big enough to care for us

It was as if God took those ladies into his arms and wept with them

That is powerful - they were able climb under those feathery like arms of God and shelter there in their grief and pain.

There is nothing like the hug of God to know that you are Psalm 91:4 “4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, And under his wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.”

I read this recently but I want to share it again - because it expresses some of my feelings this morning:

Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes A Father’s Comfort

A Father’s Comfort

Bible teacher Kay Arthur tells about getting out of the car one day, arms loaded down with books, and not wanting to go into her house. She was a young widow with two children, and it had been a bad day. She was hurting.

As she stared at the grass, her mind went back to a time in her childhood when she had been running through the grass toward her dad, terrified and screaming. He had scooped her up in his arms and given her comfort. She wished that she could be a little girl again. She wished that she had someone to hold her right then.

As she turned to go into the house, she suddenly saw herself in her mind’s eye, a little girl in pigtails, flying down a vast marble corridor. Oil paintings bigger than life hung on the walls. She could hear her little shoes on the marble floor and see the tears that ran down her cheeks.

It was a long corridor. At the end, two huge gold doors glistened in the sunlight which filtered through beveled cathedral windows. On either side of the imposing doors stood two magnificently dressed guards holding huge spears and blocking the entrance into the room beyond.

Undaunted, the little girl ran straight toward the doors, still crying, “Abba!” She never broke her stride for, as she neared the doors, the guards flung them opened and heralded her arrival: “The daughter of the King! The daughter of the King!”

Court was in session. The cherubim and seraphim cried, “Holy, holy, holy!” and the elders sat on their thrones, dressed in white, wearing crowns of gold, and talking with the King of Kings. But none of this slowed his daughter!

Oblivious to everything going on about her, she ran past the seven burning lamps of fire and up the steps leading to the throne, and she catapulted herself into the King’s arms. She was home and wrapped in the arms of his everlasting love. He reached up and, with one finger, gently wiped away her tears. Then He smoothed the sticky hair on her face back into her braids and said, “Now, now, tell your Father all about it.”

Kay Arthur walked into the house, left her books on the table, walked through her house, and knelt down by her bedside. She told her Father all about it.*