Welcome to Welling for your spiritual well-being and your ministry overflowing. The double-down sandwich is a popular sandwich across the whole world. The chicken chain which brought it to be and then took it off the market was they had such a great rush in demand that they brought it back.
Throughout this series on the enfolding, from the introduction now to the conclusion, we’ve talked about the sandwich itself. Instead of the bread, there is the chicken. And the inside, the top and the bottom chicken pieces are the cheese pieces. The center of it is the secret sauce, which covers it all.
But that’s just a sandwich. I actually referred to what is called the double-down sandwich wrapper, the enfolding wrapper, which has now been developed into an edible one. You can take the entire sandwich home, in the car take out. You can even eat the edible wrapper, enfolded.
That’s what we are, enfolded by the enfolder. In the enfolding, as I finish out this series, is like the edible wrapper. The prefix of enfolding denotes a place. That’s how Psalm 91 begins, dwelling in the shelter, abiding of the shadow, hiding in the refuge with God as your fortress. Those are all places, a condition, or a state, all sides completely encircling you, enclosing you, enfolding you.
The double-down sandwich explains the structure of the Psalm I mentioned. The packaging was developed by the same chicken company in Hong Kong. They take a four-sided, four-pointed wrapper, and they enfold the sandwich.
And that’s how I’m going to deal with this conclusion, several four points in the talk today, some from the text. I’ve already explained these verses in previous episodes. Personal quiet talks born from personal experience. Some from theology, four points. Some in integrated illustration. And then some in personal application.
Some of the texts, we’ll talk about God. We have the four metaphors of the shadow, the shelter, the sanctuary, and the stronghold. The fact that he is a refuge and fortress. We also have the four names for God, that he is the most high one, the almighty one, the covenant Yahweh one, and the Elohim, my God. He is my refuge and my fortress.
Along with the four metaphors and four names speaking about God, we have one commentator says a little bit forced, four kinds of protection, security and strength and salvation and satisfaction. But better than that is the providential [INAUDIBLE] of God in prevention as well as protection. He keeps you from the attacks. And he assists you with a lift. The demonic humor attacks. The angels guard and carry you.
In my studies in providence, the providence of God, I find four layers, God’s mundane acts, the normal ways in which he works, God’s marvelous works the beautiful things we get to see, the hemlines of his garment of providence, God’s meticulous plans. Most of which is invisible in his work. But some of his plans, we can begin to see once in a while how meticulous they were.
And then there are God’s mysterious moves, which will only be revealed in heaven when we see them revealed. And we say, ah, finally, we see. But now four parts of the application of this edible wrapper, the dwelling and the abiding of verses one and two, the calling, the knowing, the loving of God.
It’s almost like a radio station call letters, LKCA. Loving him in devotion. Knowing his name. Calling upon him in trouble. Resting, abiding, dwelling. During the season of my own journey, I filled out four of these notebooks taking notes on the visible God, yes, the incomprehensible God, yes, the inexhaustible God, yes. But he’s also the invincible one. I’m not invincible. He is.
A bit of personal history. In December of 2021, they said they found four cores of cancer, prostate cancer. They gave me the option of both surgery and radiation as equally plausible in effectiveness and cure since it was an early stage and hopefully contained. And that’s what we prayed, contained, confined, and cured.
I thought we’ll have surgery. A friend intervened and said, no, you should really consider radiation. But I found there are many kinds of radiation modalities. So over the last six weeks, five times a week for 30 treatments– I only have two left even as I speak with you– I go to that treatment center, check in. The barcode scans my ID card. They walk me in.
And there I am, completely vulnerable, completely trusting, dwelling, as it were, on this radiation bed. They have me with markers on the sides of my knees and my hips. They place me in that customized mold. And they release the proton beam. It doesn’t take long.
But I am virtually helpless. I’m completely dependent, trust, total trust in invisible giant pieces of machinery. I cannot smell anything, taste anything, see anything. But they tell me there’s a huge cyclotron which is generating hydrogen particles. And it sends the proton beam down a beam line. They precisely target the cancer. You pray for me. That is really helpful.
But after every day’s treatment, physicists and dosimetrists– these are the ones who check for doses– they look at every person’s diagnosis and treatment and see if the beamline was accurate and the dose of radiation was according to diagnosis. Just like God and Jesus, I can’t touch him. I can’t taste him. But I can trust him.
On the basis of dozens of testimonials, the experience of experts, but the best part of it all is a doctor who had the same cancer who goes through the treatment of death and raises himself from the dead to say, you can trust me. And that, my friend, is my final thought to you, is my central proposition for personal application. You can eat the edible wrapper.
Trust in the servant one who enfolds you. Rest in him. Throw yourself at his mercy. And while we can’t see him, we know there are giant machinery behind him.
Yahweh, the almighty, the Elohim, Elhi, the most high one, above all, your strong Savior secures your wellbeing, lifelong and beyond. Trust in the sovereign one who enfolds you, your strong Savior secures your web.