“The eternal God is our refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and He shall thrust out the enemy from before you, and shall say destroy them.”
You are probably familiar with this text. Its context is a message to the Jews by Moses as they were nearing the time that they would get to the Promised Land. It was God’s assurance that He would see that they were able to take the land. That is the immediate context of the text, but we can also apply it to our lives, for God still looks out for His people. It is a great promise that I quote to myself many times when I really feel the need for God’s help. Let’s see what a great promise it is. It promises us that the “eternal God is our refuge.” The American Century Dictionary defines refuge as “shelter from pursuit, danger or trouble.” It is good to know that when we have problems in this life we can take them to God and find refuge in Him. David had the right idea about this in Psalm 23:4: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me.” God is our refuge as we walk through the crises of life. Many times He will escort us around them, but He also often takes us through them and makes us stronger in the long run. I know that it is a comfort to me when I am going through hard times to know that I can find refuge in God and that He will be with me in whatever I have to deal with. Of course, there are those times when He will just come to our rescue and take us around the hard times. I think that the spirit of the text is caught in Psalm 57:1: “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusts in you: yea, in the shadow of your wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.” When you are facing life’s difficulties run to God, run to Jesus and you will find refuge in Him. Deuteronomy 33:27 promises us that when we seek God’s refuge, we find that “underneath are the everlasting arms." In other words, the Lord is our safety net. We don’t ever need to fear that we will be without that safety net, for His are “everlasting arms.” That means that there is nothing that can keep God from catching us. We will never have to worry that He will be asleep, that He will ignore us, or that He will be indifferent toward what we are encountering in our lives. We will have to encounter hard times in this life, but we will always have our safety net. It is good to know that even when we are very ill, God’s everlasting arms are there to catch us. In 2011/2012 as I was going through cancer and the treatments for cancer, I felt those “everlasting arms” as I’ve never felt them in my life. I think that I felt more secure in my faith than I ever have in my life. There are times that the presence of God is so vivid that it is almost like He is sitting next to us. I would not want to be one of those people who say that they do not need God, or that they don’t trust that Jesus can save or help them. We, who claim Christ as our savior, should thank God every day for His “everlasting arms.” How can we know that He will catch us in those arms? Well, because He promised this and because He is real and His “everlasting arms” are real. Deuteronomy 33:27 promises that He will “thrust out the enemy before us.” In our case, the main enemy that we face is Satan. As Peter wrote in 1 Peter 4:8: “Be sober, be vigilant: because your adversary the devil walks about, like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Only God can be our defense against this powerful enemy. In Ephesians 6:11 Paul reminds us to “put on the whole armor of God that you might be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (You can read about the armor in Ephesians 6:11-18.) The great promise of Deuteronomy 33:27 is that we are not alone, for God is ever-present in our lives to watch over us and be our refuge. Take God at His word and trust Him. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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