Light & Momentary
God is your refuge and strength through all the adversity and the heartache of life. As you turn to Him you will be inwardly renewed by His great love.
“Six of the towns you give the Levites will be cities of refuge...These six towns you give will be your cities of refuge...Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it. Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell"
Numbers 35:6, 9-13, 26-27, 30-34
What are your coping mechanisms when you experience inner turmoil? Where do you turn for help? For some people, Refuge is a place. Think of how much you might enjoy planning vacations or getting away from the reality of all the responsibilities of your daily life. As Southwest Airlines says, do you want to get away?
In ancient times the people had areas of refuge for people to go to find safety after their worst decisions. If someone killed another person, prior to judgment from the community, they could find rest at the city of refuge. The idea that refuge is a place has long been adopted by our culture. How do you feel about the environment in which you dwell? Is it a place of peace or chaos? Do you feel the need to run or get away to find peace?
“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?...He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father. Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession...Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling...Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
Psalms 2:1, 7-8, 11-12
David lived life on the run for much as his adult life. Whether he was running from Saul or being attacked by foreign armies, David knew the difficulty of deciding where to go when life was hard. David makes an insightful choice in this psalm. He does not see refuge as a place. Rather, he looks to his Savior and the source of his strength.
Do you agree with what David says? He says blessed are those who take refuge in God. Essentially, you will experience a life of greater peace, balance, comfort, favor, and guidance if you turn to God rather than try to run to a place of shelter. Jesus took things one step further. Rather than waiting for us to come to Him, He came to us. The Heavenly Man came to all mankind that we might receive the peace of heaven as we turn to Him. Where could you use the peace of Christ in your life today? How could turning to Him provide help for any weariness of your soul.
“How beautiful your sandaled feet...How beautiful you are and how pleasing, my love, with your delights! I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me. Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside"
Song of Songs 7:1, 6, 10-11
You will travel many steps in your life. Sometimes you will wear sandals and other times you will put on running shoes. We have a lot of choices for what our feet will wear. In a professional setting or night out of pleasure you might put on your fancy shoes. Solomon takes a look at the feet of his love and praises how beautiful the feet of the one he loves are.
This same expression comes back to followers of Jesus in the book of Romans when Paul remarks about how beautiful the feet are of those who bring the good news of Jesus Christ. The question is what will you do with your life and where will you go? Will you let love lead you to wide open spaces and a new found sense of freedom? Will God's purposes be what leads your journey or will you dress up to make yourself feel great? What you wear outside reflects how you feel inside.
“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “ ‘I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt... You say, “The Nile belongs to me; I made it for myself...Egypt will become a desolate wasteland. Then they will know that I am the Lord...Because you said, “The Nile is mine; I made it...Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the nations where they were scattered. I will bring them back from captivity and return them to Upper Egypt, the land of their ancestry...the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon...I have given him Egypt as a reward for his efforts because he and his army did it for me, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
Ezekiel 29:2-3, 6, 9, 13-16, 19-20
The word of God comes to the prophet and he shares the truth that there is no refuge in pride. God calls out the Pharaoh of Egypt for proclaiming the false and asserting his role in forming the flowing river. What happens when pride is elevated above praising God? Destruction follows. God has no interest in playing second fiddle to you.
What truth emerges that can help guide us to a place of peace? Where can we find refuge? By embracing what God says again and again. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Humility unlocks honor. Jesus says blessed are the poor in spirit. Have you examined your heart? Have you asked God to search and reveal anything that is prideful in you? Would you like to bring the state of peace that comes from finding refuge in truth into your heart?
“Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake...we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:1, 5-9, 14-18
Paul is an overcomer. He is a man who refused to allow circumstances or social pressure to remove him from his righteous calling to share the word of Jesus Christ. He is not just talking the talk when he says we are hard pressed, crushed, perplexed, persecuted, struck down, and suffering. This was a man who endured lashing, constant hate and harm, and should have been a man who would have been justified in seeking refuge somewhere safe. What did he choose to do?
He pressed on. He relied on the mercy of God, the power of God, and the gratitude he felt for the new life he found in Christ to rule his heart. He says anything you face is temporary and that refuge is found in fixing your minds on the eternal. Isn't he right? Don't we get most off track when our problems get big and our faith in God gets small. Paul says elevate God. Praise Him. Trust Him. Fix your eyes on the author and perfector of your faith. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Do not lose heart, but be renewed by the work that God is doing in you.
How does Paul move beyond the frustrations and fears of every day hurt? How does he hold fast to overcoming adversity? We have previously heard his secret. He holds on to the love of God in his heart and fixes his mind on the love of Christ. He proclaimed in Romans that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Not persecution nor pain, not problems nor pride, nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. The love of Christ helps us experience the peace that we so long for when we seek refuge at all times. The Holy Spirit, the comforter, meets us where we are and empowers us to be able to pass that peace that we have received to each person we encounter. Do you want refuge? Do you want peace? Invite Jesus in, fix your eyes on the eternal, and choose to turn to Him in all things, at all times.