Refuge [Guest Post]

Lol I ended up doing a devotional type post in the end! I just couldn’t write anything else… I didn’t have the energy to fight it :).

Dakota is a student of literature and creative writing living in Adelaide, South Australia with her homeschooling family. She enjoys tea, music and dancing in the rain.

Just a quick note before I start: I am going to use the NIV here, rather than the KJV, which I believe Joy uses, just because that is what I normally read and that is where this post came from. You have been warned ;)  

Also, most Bible “verses” included in this post are in fact fragments of verses. I encourage you to read the verses in context if possible.

Superstorm Sandy, Frankenstorm, Hurricane Sandy, call it what you will. The weather they’ve been having in New York has been terrifying. Here in Adelaide, too, we’ve been told to “batten down the hatches” though, thankfully, nothing like Sandy is forecast. Still, the winds are vaguely alarming, a tangible reminder of the power in nature.

The word “refuge”, and similar concepts, stood out to me in my Bible reading this morning (Nov 5^th) as I read Psalms 1 through 25.

• For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous (Psalm 1:6)
• Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (Psalm 2:12)
• But you, Lord, are a shield around me (Psalm 3:3)
• In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4:8)
• But let all who take refuge in you be glad (Psalm 5:11)
• Lord my God, I take refuge in you (Psalm 7:1)
• The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. (Psalm 9:9)
• In the Lord I take refuge. (Psalm 11:1)
• You, Lord, will keep the needy safe (Psalm 12:7)
• But I trust in your unfailing love (Psalm 13:5)
• [B]ut the Lord is their refuge (Psalm 14:6)
• Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge. (Psalm 16:1)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Samotnia_noca_01.jpg Accessed: 2012.11.05

I love the warmth radiating from that building in contrast to the dark and uninviting snow.

• [Y]ou who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you (Psalm 17:7)
• [H]ide me in the shadow of your wings (Psalm 17:8)
• The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Psalm 18:2)
• [H]e shields all who take refuge in him. (Psalm 18:30)
• Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. (Psalm 20:7)
• For the king trusts in the Lord; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken. (Psalm 21:7)
• In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. (Psalm 22:4)
• I will fear no evil, for you are with me (Psalm 23:4)
• I take refuge in you (Psalm 25:20)

Another verse which came to mind when reading these verses was from Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am god”. I would like to encourage you, when you are threatened, whether by people or weather or circumstance or simply the storms of stress and the winds of worry, to take refuge in the Lord our god.

Finally, I would like to share with you the first verse of lyrics from my new favourite hymn, Abide With Me by Henry Francis Lyte:

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;

The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.

When other helpers fail and comforts flee,

Help of the helpless, O abide with me.