God of Refuge
Psa
7:1
O LORD my God, I take refuge in you; save and
deliver me from all who pursue me
We
have seen previously (Meditation 3) God as a shield, the one who stands
between us and our enemy and provides protection, but the idea of
God being a refuge takes us on beyond that to a fuller and more intimate
picture of God with us.
Yes,
there is the same idea of God being a protector and He does it by
being a deliverer (as we saw in Meditation 4), to save David from
those who pursued him and sought to kill him (v.2). So
what's the difference between a shield and a refuge? A
shield is something you hold out in front of you to protect you from
the enemy, while a refuge is a place you retreat into to receive that
same protection. A shield is before you and a refuge is
all around you. A shield you have to hold up strongly,
but a refuge is something you retreat into when you are weak and unable
to defend yourself. The refuge provides the strength and you
need do nothing except get into it.
In
mountain areas, there is sometimes a refuge in high places which is
either a hut or simply a wall in a square shape with a single opening.
In both cases the climber or walker simply gets into the refuge to
escape the weather. When wives have been beaten by husbands who are
bullies, we now have ‘refuges' where they can go where the husband
cannot. All they need do is flee into the refuge and they are safe.
Thus,
similarly, we can have a sense of the Lord's presence surrounding
us and when that happens, the noise of the winds of adversity are
cut off and we have peace. God is our refuge. There are
times when the enemy seems to rage against us and affliction comes
in a variety of ways, and we cry out to the Lord and then, suddenly
all is still, the struggle seems to be terminated. God is our
refuge. It is simply His presence being manifested and whenever
He comes into our circumstances, He takes control and peace comes.
The picture of Jesus asleep in the boat with the disciples, in the
storm (Mt 8:24 -), although an historical event, is also a good analogy
of this. A storm blew up that threatened the boat. They woke
Jesus and he returned to their conscious world and rebuked the wind
and the waves. Suddenly there was peace. Thus was God manifest.
God was their refuge.
In
Num 35:9 onwards we find God giving Moses the law for the cities of
refuge. These were simply places where someone who had committed manslaughter
could go to get protection against the avenger. We have an accuser,
Satan, for that is what his name means. When we fail and sin,
we confess it and when he accuses us we have to flee to the refuge
that is Jesus and all he's done of us on the Cross. That was
why John wrote in 1 Jn 2:1,2 about how, should we sin, we have one
who speaks in our defence, the one who died for us, Jesus. When we
are accused we are to flee to God, our refuge, for He alone has provided
safety and protection for us against the demands of Satan and the
Law, so that we might live and not die. He is our refuge because of
who He is and what He's done. Psa 126:1 says, “Keep
me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge.” This
is what a refuge does, it keeps us safe; it makes us feel secure.
That is far more than the work of a shield. As we said,
the refuge surrounds us and it is His strength, not ours, that prevails
against the enemy. We just have to cry to Him and then let Him be
Himself for us, for His very presence acts as a refuge from all the
enemy can bring against us. Hallelujah!
Response:
Pause up and turn to the Lord in prayer for a moment. Ask for the
sense of His presence to surround you. Ask for His peace to fill you.
Be at rest in the place of refuge.