Refuge And Strength

Uplook – September 2018 — Grace & Truth Magazine

Refuge And Strength

“God is our refuge and strength, a help in distresses, very readily found.” —Psalm 46:1 JND

Prophetically, this lovely psalm points to the time when the faithful remnant of Israel will be trapped in Jerusalem with the armies of the nations raging around Jerusalem in order to destroy them completely (see Zech. 12:2,12-14). When there is no way out the faithful Jew will look up and cry “God is our refuge and strength.”

This is our lesson today! Circumstances can be so pressing we do not see any hope for help from anyone. To the contrary, it often seems that everything is purposely designed to harm us. Yet there is One who is always there. Faith looks up and cries out, “God is our refuge!” There is always a way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13) because our refuge is God. His ways with us cannot be explained, but faith accepts His providence in all circumstances. He is a God of love, and He always has His eyes upon the righteous.

God is not only our refuge; our verse tells us that He is also our strength. At times believers give up because of lack of strength to continue in their walk of faith. Relief is sought in earthly and worldly pleasures. What sorrow there is in the world today because there is no strength, even to be true to one another. But for the believer, the same God who is our refuge is also our strength. Faith knows that His ways with us are perfect; our heavenly Father never makes mistakes. Should we not lay our weak hands in His all mighty hand and say with Him who was that perfect Man here on earth, “Yea, Father, for thus has it been well-pleasing in Thy sight” (Mt. 11:26). Accepting His will in our lives each day will have the result that we will also say, “God is my strength.”

By Klaas Rot