During the last days of World War II, President Harry S. Truman was asked how he managed to bear up so calmly under the stress and strain of the presidency. He answered that he had "a foxhole in my mind" and, just as a soldier retreats into his foxhole for protection and respite, Truman periodically retreated into his own "mental foxhole" where he allowed nothing to bother him. He had taken the advice of Marcus Aurelius: "Constantly then give to thyself this retreat, and renew thyself."
While Truman's mental foxhole might have been a good retreat, there is an even better one under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91, one of the most beloved chapters of the Bible, tells of the place of security to which the believer can go. In this spiritual foxhole, nothing can harm or hurt him. The Psalmist said that He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.
There are in our world some very real dangers. Not only are there physical dangers, there are spiritual ones. Even the boldest need the protection mentioned in this beautiful psalm, protection from the terror by night the arrow that flies by day the pestilence that walks in darkness the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
“Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”
Psalms 91:1 NLT
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