I have read and loved fairy tales since I was a little girl. I will always treasure my volumes of Grimm’s and Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tales. Later in life I became enthralled with science fiction and the works of Ray Bradbury and I’ve read everything he ever wrote. As interesting and varied as all stories are, I love the thread that weaves through all of them and that thread is the story of The Story, our story – the story of the epic battle of good versus evil and being rescued by Perfect Love.

One such story is a familiar one: The Three Little Pigs! You know how it goes….each of the three pigs builds a shelter using different materials and different amounts of wisdom and care in the building process. The big bad wolf comes onto the scene and huffs and puffs and blows the first two houses down. The first two pigs scamper to the third pigs home, which endures the huffing and puffing of the big bad wolf. Perhaps you don’t see the connection between those imaginary little squealers and our story but there is indeed a connection so let me expound on the truth embedded within that children’s fairy tale.

Psalm 27:1NIV, says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid?” David made two bold proclamations in that verse, each followed by a question. It is interesting to me that he doesn’t come back after the question with the answer “no one”. That is how I would respond (and perhaps you would too). We respond that way because we tend to start out with questions about fear and make that our focus / the lens we look through to interpret our situation. In this verse, David spoke truth first. Everything he saw in his situation was seen through those truths. The questions he asked were already answered because he stood on truth. How different our current circumstances might look if we could stand on His truth instead of cowering in our fear.

David’s second statement of epic truth in verse one is, “the Lord is the stronghold of my life”. Let’s park right there. There are not accidental words in Scripture. What is a stronghold? A stronghold is a fortified place of protection. David is stating with a keen audacity that God Himself is the fortified place of protection of his whole life. Wow! Would you have the courage to know that truth in your own life? In my imagination I see a strong stone tower. It is round with a spired stone top. All of my life is inside of it and that strong stone tower is also inside of me. Try to look in your mind’s eye and see what that stronghold might look like for you. Can you see The Truth? Can you see yourself inside of Him? Can you see Him inside of you? First we have to choose to see. He isn’t hard to find at all if we start with truth instead of fear.

Here is where difficulty often sets in though and we relate back to the three little slabs of bacon we talked about earlier. His goodness and truth keep presenting themselves to us (church, music, study, nature, prayer, etc.) but then we get distracted with emotions and fear. We sense that The Strong Tower exists but we only feel present in Him when we are on a mountaintop. On mundane days of laundry and shuttling kids we feel like He has moved away and we are only in the house made of sticks. In moments of bad medical reports or losing a job or struggling to get out of bed from depression we feel that God has left us in the house made out of straw.

Stand on this bold truth – God cannot contradict Himself or He wouldn’t be God. His nature never changes. He is the same all the time and for all time. In all of the situations mentioned in the previous paragraph He is the stronghold of your life. How do I know? I know because His word in Psalm 27:1 says so through His servant David. You are never in a stronghold made of straw or sticks. You are never left behind or exposed to the enemy. Yes, Satan is prowling around like a big bad wolf but your wise and loving and courageous Father thought of everything. You never leave the Strong Tower and the Strong Tower never leaves you. You have been rescued. Fear is a liar. Fear will tell your emotions that God is far away because you aren’t good enough. Fear will convince you that you are not in His Strong Tower and may even lead you to invite the enemy to walk right in the front door. Don’t listen. On the mountaintop moments of glee and glory to the moments of looking tragedy in the face, He is the stronghold of your life.

Before you leave this blog today, repeat these truths aloud:

1. The Lord is my light and my salvation. 2. The Lord is the stronghold of my life

That is your truth and my truth. Stand on it and in it. The enemy can huff and puff all he wants but he ain’t ever blowing The Strong Tower down.