Frayed Edges

We’re driving to church yesterday and my husband says, “I feel like I’m frayed at the edges, and any second I could unravel.”

I’m wiping away tears as I nod. Yes, this is life. You walk and follow and sometimes God leads down some pretty dark and wandering roads.

But then we’re at church, so late it’s horrible, and I’m trying to catch up with all this speaker is sharing. I understand that he was in a plane wreck, it was a miracle he survived, he has a passion for sharing the gospel. Then he says words that quiet me still.

“Remember, the verse in Psalms 16?” he asks us. And I start searching, as soon as he says the words, and sit and stare at the page in front of me.

It’s talking about God being our refuge, our safe place. And then it says,

Yahweh is my inheritance and my cup.
    You are the one who determines my destiny.
 Your boundary lines mark out pleasant places for me.
    Indeed, my inheritance is something beautiful.

And this man I’ve never met, whose name I never caught, he speaks Holy-Spirit-led-words right there. “Looking back at my accident, all I went through, I realize that God is the one who marked out the boundary lines of what could happen, and they were in pleasant places for me. And in your life, He is the one marking the boundaries.”

This morning I’m wiping tears again as I read the words. God is my refuge. And no matter how frayed along the edges I am– He is the one that marks out the boundary lines of what can happen in my life. And He is trustworthy. 

The Hebrew word translated “pleasant” also can mean “delightful”. Not perfect or wonderful or pain-free– but something that bring delight in the end. Yahweh is my inheritance, the One who determines my destiny, and the boundary lines are already in place.

Oh, thank you, Father.