Living Understanding Pt 5: Refuge
Psalm 46:1-2, 7, 9-11 1God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way. 7The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. 9He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. 10He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” 11The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Psalm 91 1Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” 3Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. 4He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. 5You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. 7A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. 8You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. 9If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, 10no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. 11For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. 13You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. 14“Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. 15He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. 16With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
Refuge and strength
I think it safe to say that at some point in everyone’s life the world around them seems to collapse into chaos. For me that happened when my wife died in December of 2018. Everything of value seemed to vanish in that one moment and life no longer seemed to have meaning. As the gurney arrived at our door, I gave her one last hug and tears came to the eyes of everyone in the room, and as the gurney left I collapsed to my knees on the sidewalk with a scream of anguish.
But of course life did not collapse into chaos and I learned to move on. But moving on was very, very difficult. It was these Psalms, 46 and 91, which I frequently read and received comfort in, and through them I learned that I did not have to be fully capable at all times in all things. I remember those awful days at the beginning of 2019 when often I would just sit in the recliner and wonder what was to happen. And the comforting things about these verses is they reminded me that all was not lost. God is, in fact, our refuge. He is a place to which we can go to find comfort and peace. I would put on worship music and let him in. I yelled at him, cried in his arms, and the whole time I felt him saying, “I’ve got her now and she is fine.”
Also God is our strength. Unbelievers have a hard time understanding this, but it is true. When times are hard, often the only thing we can do is realize that God is there and unchangeable even though our current situations are a mess. I have found that at low points in my life I occasionally wonder if God is even there. I am a weak and frail human being prone to doubt. Nevertheless, God shows up to remind me that he is our ultimate security; that he is eternal, unchangeable and loving.
Fortress
And God is our fortress. Fortresses are those bulwarks of stone and mortar meant to protect against cannon and arrow, but God as a fortress is entirely different. When we truly trust God, when we have spent our lives in prayer, leaning into him for strength, and developing intimate relationship with him, the attacks of enemies and the stinging rebukes of the world seem to have no power. We can’t live our lives in hiding, nor wear armor all the time. The world is a fallen place, sin is real. We make mistakes that create consequences, and others do the same and their consequence can affect us.
When we have that intimate relationship, it comes about because of effort on our part to leave concerns about the world behind and begin trusting God in everything. Psalm 91 reminds me that God has our back in every potential difficulty: Traps won’t ensnare us, diseases won’t kill us, nighttime terrors or attacks by enemies won’t damage us, and animals won’t attack us. This is not to say we won’t eventually die when it is our time, but that our life will be full and fulfilling. So stuff still happens but it won’t have any lasting power. Grief will wane, and financial difficulty will lessen. Even death, as it will most assuredly come, is only a doorway to wonderful eternity with him.
Be still and know
But all of this requires that we have intimacy with God. Believer, do you talk to him? Do you sit in your chair and let him talk to you? See, this is where the peace of God comes from. It’s not enough to have a running dialogue with him on the way to work or on the golf course. God wants our full attention; he has important things to say to us.
What about me?
So it ultimately comes down to cultivating intimacy with God. That means spending time in communion with him (prayer) and time learning about him (studying his Word). It means being in fellowship with other believers, praying for one another, and helping one another through each other’s struggles. Human beings have an innate need to be with people; we are social creatures. But the trouble is, those other people can sometimes be the source of our struggles; maybe we made poor choices; maybe they are toxic. The only sure source of comfort is God; the only sure protection is from God.