“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
“God is our refuge.” What is a refuge? My Webster dictionary defines it as “a shelter from pursuit, danger or trouble". God is described in the text as our "refuge." What does this mean? First, God is our our refuge from fear. With all of the bad news that we have today, I can’t imagine waking up in the morning not knowing that God will be with me all through the day. There is great comfort and knowing that He is “very present” as the KJV puts it. David didn’t write this psalm, but he dealt with it in other psalms. As a shepherd in his youth, David encountered a lot of dangers. This is why he wrote 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.” I cannot tell you that I am never afraid, but I can tell you that I do not live in fear. We cannot let fear control our lives. Second, God is our refuge from temptation. Temptation is the primary human problem. Satan finds ways to tempt us that will catch us by surprise. He makes sin look good, and even feel good to make it not seem like sin. That is why we need to stay close to the Lord, and recognize temptation to sin for what it is. Satan wants us to think that temptation is a quaint, old fashioned concept. He is doing a pretty job of it today – won’t you agree? If you hear someone say that they are never tempted, you can be assured that they have fallen into Satan’s snare. Believe me, I know the meaning of temptation. It is one of the reasons that I start and end everyday with prayer, and also do a lot of praying in between. One of the definitions of refuge is “shelter from pursuit.” That is certainly true in the matter of temptation. When you are dealing with temptation, run to God!!! Third, God is our refuge from self. You probably do not remember the cartoon character Pogo, but one of my favorite quotations from him is: “We has met the enemy and he is us.” You’ve heard people say, and have probably said the same thing yourself: “I am my own worst enemy.” I feel like this sometimes when I am in the presence of chocolate. (Come on, you know what I mean.) The Bible tells us to love others as we love ourselves. We forget that in order to love others, we have to love ourselves. I don’t mean a selfish type of love. I guess the best way to put it is that we need to have self-respect. God is our refuge when we are really down on ourselves, because He is ready and willing to forgive us. I hope these random thoughts on God as our refuge have encouraged and challenged you today. Note: Tomorrow we will look at God as "Our Strength." Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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