He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. (Psalm 91:1, N.K.J.V.)

Clovis Chappell, the great Methodist preacher, once told the following story:

In the early days of aviation, a pilot was attempting to make an around-the-world flight. At one point, a couple of hours since his previous stop for refueling, the pilot heard a strange noise in his plane. After listening to the noise for a little while, he determined that it sounded like the gnawing of a rat. He quickly concluded that a rat must have climbed aboard the plane during the last fuel stop.

Thoughts of impending doom immediately entered the pilot’s mind as he envisioned the rat gnawing through some cable that was vital to him controlling the plane. But what was to be done? That last landing spot was two hours behind him and the next one was two hours ahead of him. No matter which one he tried to make, it was a two-hour trip and the rat could have completed its damage by then.

Worry filled the pilot’s every breath until he happened to remember that rats are rodents. Rodents, of course, are creatures of the ground and the underground. They are not made for heights. So the pilot began to climb his plane higher and higher into the sky. Up, up, up he went until the sound of the rodent finally stopped. Two hours later the pilot landed for his next refueling and found the dead rat.

Chappell concluded his story with some beautiful words of application, and I’ll offer those words as the close to this brief post and trust you to put them to good use in your life. He said:

Brothers and sisters in Christ, worry is a rodent. It cannot live in the secret place of the Most High. It cannot breathe in the atmosphere made vital by prayer and familiarity with the Scripture. Worry dies when we ascend to the Lord through prayer and His word.