As a 34-year-old, I led a group on a weekend getaway during a mission trip in Indonesia. That day was an outdoors-man’s delight: hiking to the rim of a volcano! It hadn’t erupted in 16 years so it was supposed to be a safe yet adventuresome voyage. Go figure—the volcano erupted. The ground rumbled and there was an explosion that rained hot lava and ash on us, lighting our clothes on fire as we ran for our lives. We sustained third-degree burns, broken bones, all as a result of that explosion from the fiery pit. Though we experienced pain, in the midst of it we also experienced God’s grace and security.

Poetic literature, like the Psalms and Proverbs—even some sections of the Prophets—are filled with encouraging “general truths” that are most often true of God’s actions toward us. However, at times, God allows us to experience pain—and even allows us to get burned. It is at that time that we need His restorative promises to restore our souls.
What promises do you cling to? I have been thinking a lot recently about Psalm 113:4-8.