Refuge

2 Samuel 22:31 NIV

"As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless.  He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

Do You Have A Hiding Place?

 

More than a decade ago when our oldest son was only nine or ten, we went camping in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  Somehow we stumbled upon a beautiful swimming hole on the Kings River at the western end of the park.  The river cascaded down giant granite boulders into a large pool that was formed in a giant basin of granite.  The pool was quite deep in places, more than twenty feet or so.  The river had carved a natural water slide that dropped into the pool and I held Noah, who was pretty young and together we slid down the rocks and splashed into the pool a number of times.  Jacob though was intrigued by a father and son who stood high above the pool looking down.  The son was not much older than Jacob and it seemed like they both were going to jump down into the water.  The spot where they were going to jump was more than twenty feet above the pool.  The cliff jutted out over the water and was directly above the deepest part of the pool.  When both father and son jumped, screaming as they fell into the water, Jacob thought he would like to do the same thing.  After the father and son climbed out of the water, Jacob asked me if I thought it was dangerous to jump there.  The father and son insisted it was perfectly safe so Jacob and I went over to the spot where he would land and studied it carefully.  The water was crystal clear; we could see the bottom perfectly and it looked plenty deep to land.  The only problem was that you had to jump out from the rock to land in the deepest part of the pool.  Jacob pondered the risks, stared up at the cliff, looked down into the water and after much encouragement from the father and son that had jumped before, began to make his climb up to the ledge where the others had leaped into the pool below.

There is for each of us, a time when you need to know if there is a safe place to land.  You will, and maybe already have, find yourself falling without a net to catch you.  It is easy to pretend like Job’s friends that only really bad people face tragic and traumatic circumstances but you know that is not the case.  Because you live in a sin corrupted universe, real troubles spring up without warning and you must face them.  Hardship and pain are here with you and sometimes it is a calamitous illness, other times a sudden loss of income, a relationship that falls apart, depression that can’t be shaken, failure crushes your sense of worth, a habit that you know you should break but you just can’t or an accident that brings irreparable damage.  When you look down from the cliff where you stand, what do you see?

Perhaps like me, you have been intrigued by the story of Ruth found in the Bible.  Newly married to a young man she clearly chose to love, Ruth was suddenly a widow.  The more we read of her story, we find ourselves captivated by her kindness, generosity and loyalty.  Why a tragedy like this would happen to someone with such a warm and loving heart is difficult to comprehend.  We can of course just wave off this calamity as a slight roadblock in her life because she later remarried and gave birth to the great-grandfather of a mighty king but that would do a tremendous disservice to the actuality of her heartbreak.  Tragedy by definition is tragic and just because some good is awaiting us down the road from it does not mean we can shake it off as inconsequential unless we have been damaged psychologically and do not respond to disasters in a healthy way.  Ruth did not “just shake off” the calamity of her husband’s death and nor should she have.  She was without the love of her life and that pain was significant.

Ruth made a dramatic decision that clearly changed the course of her life.  She decided to make the God of her mother-in-law, the God of Israel her God.  This was a conscious choice on her part based upon what she had seen in her husband, her father-in-law and her mother-in-law Naomi and how belief in God had shaped their lives.  When Naomi decided to leave Moab and go back to her hometown in Israel after the tragic loss of her own husband and two sons, Ruth was determined to leave with her.   Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. (Ruth 1:16b NIV)

Ruth was not merely changing her religion; she was completely rearranging her life with God.  Life is tragic and there is a tremendous amount of heartbreak in our world.  We cannot explain it all and like we discover about Job, there are supernatural forces working that are unseen to us bringing tremendous amounts of pain and sorrow to good people.  Ruth realized though like the Psalmists and her own great-great-grandson would later proclaim, God is a refuge for those who turn to Him.  Ruth’s future husband Boaz could see clearly that Ruth had turned to the Lord in her sorrow and found Him a great comfort.  He tenderly prayed for God to be her strength and help, “May the Lord repay you for what you have done.  May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."  (Ruth 2:12 NIV)

Ruth may have been the inspiration of David who also found God to be a refuge where we can go in our troubles and hardship.  O Lord my God, I take refuge in you; save and deliver me from all who pursue me, (Psalm 7:1 NIV)  The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. (Psalm 9:9 NIV)  Keep me safe, O God for in you I take refuge. (Psalm 16:1 NIV)  There is a supernatural work that God does for us and within us when we turn to Him in our times of trouble.  This work cannot be explained by logic or by psychological theories.  Those who have experienced this work of God have a terrible time trying to explain exactly what happens when they turn to God for refuge but that doesn’t alter the facts of His help and comfort.  You cannot explain what happens when you turn to God for refuge but like the Psalmist, you simply know what you have experienced.  God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1 NIV) 

Before he became physically king of Israel, David as a young man became the actual enemy of Israel’s king.  David hadn’t done anything wrong but Saul had become paranoid and saw David as a threat to his throne.  Saul led an army into the desert regions of Judea to hunt down David and kill him.  But David and his small band of men avoided capture.  With Saul’s soldiers camped just below where David was hiding, Saul entered the cave where David was to go to the bathroom.  There in the dark of the cave, with Saul oblivious to David and his men hidden from view, David’s men urged David to kill the king.  David crept up to Saul and cut off a part of Saul’s robe without Saul knowing.  David was conscience stricken though by how close he came to killing Saul the Lord’s anointed.  He said to his men, "The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, or lift my hand against him; for he is the anointed of the Lord." (1 Samuel 24:6 NIV)

This is a perfect example of what it means to dive into God and make Him your refuge.  Rather than take matters into his own hands and kill Saul, he gave Saul back to God to do with as the Lord wished.  He could have violently grabbed the kingdom of Israel by assassinating Saul in the cave but he trusted God to take care of him and make him king in God’s time.  Many were dependent on David to save them from Saul and his own soldiers were pushing for him to kill Saul then and there but David refused.  David took his stand in the cave that regardless of how bad it all seemed, he would make God his refuge.  This determination to dive into God and let Him protect and comfort you is found in the Psalms.  Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. (Psalm 62:8 NIV)

I heard recently of a Muslim girl who decided to become Christian despite the opposition of her family.  She risked the hatred of her parents and perhaps even physical harm to take refuge in Jesus.  This high school student did what Ruth did and what David did and what we can do too.  She has hidden her life in Christ and is trusting Him to take care of her.  What about you?  Will you trust God with your finances?  Will you tithe?  Will you trust God with your friendships?  Will you talk openly about your faith in Christ?  Will you trust God with your family?  Will you pray for them and encourage them?   Will you trust God with your work and school?  Will you let Christ guide you and direct your steps rather than just do whatever methods the world uses to get ahead?  How serious are you about being Christian?  What great things might God do through us if we put our trust in Christ and dove into Him…made Him our refuge, our source of safety and peace?