Refuge

Psalm 11

In the Lord I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, “Flee like a bird to your mountain, for behold, the wicked bend the bow; they have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart; if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man. The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.

It is always hard to find one specific verse throughout a passage when you have these lovely little Psalms that pack such a punch in its entirety.

It is so easy for us to run away from our problems or try to bear down and figure them out on our own. What do I do when family members of mine don’t understand or don’t currently believe in what I believe in? How do I approach that? Right now, maybe it would be best if we didn’t talk about it at all? Have these questions ever ran through your mind, because they have for me.

I would encourage you to resonate on the first six words of this passage, “In the LORD I take refuge…” This Psalm talks about the fear that we have when people are outwardly persecuting us and/or have no understanding or knowledge of the truth (foundations). What are we supposed to do? Where are we supposed to go? How are we to guard against this? The problem is, is that we are trying to figure this out on our own and not taking refuge in the LORD. God is looking down on us and desires our hearts to be righteous, not just our actions. We see in this passage that the LORD tests the righteous; because there are those who have called themselves ‘righteous’ who have already received their reward (as Charlie spoke about in church on Sunday) as they are only looking for recognition from those around them, and there are also the righteous that have understood that we will never get to the Father on our own. We all fall short on a regular basis, but we need to understand that God is good, God is holy, and He is looking down from his heavenly throne just waiting to gather us up in his arms. All we need to do is run into them. If you have kids, they know that there is only one person who can make that invisible scrape on their knee disappear; their parents. We are children of our heavenly Father and have been beaten and bruised with emotional, physical, and literal scars from the world around us. Who better to heal our wounds and teach us how to avoid them the next time around?

I challenge you to pray (not during dinner or with your kids) in secret, in your own heart, directly to your Father, and find refuge in his arms. Talk with him like you would a friend, like you would a Father, like you would someone who deeply loved you.

-Tim