Unfortified and Unsheltered?

Why would someone need rescue? It could be they found them caught unaware of the danger they were in, such as when a flash flood comes unexpectedly. It might also be that they were at the wrong place at the wrong time, caught up in some event they likely would never have chosen for themselves. It might even be they chose the place, the time, and the event, knowing very well there was a danger associated with that decision. It doesn't really matter how or why the rescue is required, danger exists, and distress is imminent if not already occurring. The deeper the distress, the louder our calls for deliverance are!

The Lord rescues the godly; he is their fortress in times of trouble. The Lord helps them, rescuing them from the wicked. He saves them, and they find shelter in him. (Psalm 37:39-40)

This passage gives me hope that even the godly can be caught up in places or events that require his rescue. It should give us all hope that we won't always make the wisest of choices, finding ourselves in places and events that we might not actually want to be in. When we make unwise choices, God doesn't just abandon us to those choices. He delivers us from them, listening carefully for our call, looking intently on our path, seeing exactly when our rescue is required. 

Along life's journey, we will make choices we later regret. Do we always need God's deliverance from them? Not always. We are able to reverse the course of some of them on our own, such as when we have been eating improperly for a while and then choose to reverse those choices by making better ones. There will be other times when we definitely need his assistance because the wickedness around us, combined with the choices we have made, have landed us smack-dab in the middle of a muddle that we know no way out of on our own.

A shelter and a fortress must both be inhabited in order to be of use to us, correct? We might see a shelter from an oncoming storm, but if we don't heed the warning of the coming storm, taking shelter within that place, the shelter may stand, but we may not. The fortress is a good place when the enemy attacks, but if we just look at it as a 'go to' on occasion, our enemy may see we live 'unsheltered' and 'unfortified' lives most of the time, taking full advantage of every opportunity to attack! Just sayin!