Our Refuge / ODB

 

Our Refuge God is our refuge. Psalm 62:8 READ Psalm 62:5–8 A place where the buffalo roamed in North America. That’s truly what it was in the beginning. The Plains Indians followed bison there until settlers moved in with herds and crops. The land was later used as a chemical manufacturing site after Pearl Harbor during World War II, then even later for Cold War weapon demilitarization. But then one day a roost of bald eagles was discovered there, and soon the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge was born—a fifteen-thousand-acre expanse of prairie, wetland, and woodland habitat on the edges of the metropolis of Denver, Colorado. It’s now one of the largest urban refuges, or sanctuaries, in the country—a safe, protected home for more than three hundred species of animals, from black-footed ferrets to burrowing owls to bald eagles, and you guessed it: roaming buffalo. The psalmist tells us that “God is our refuge” (62:8). Far greater than any earthly place of refuge, God is our true sanctuary, a safe, protected presence in whom “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). He’s our refuge in whom we can place our trust “at all times” (Psalm 62:8). And He’s our sanctuary where we can boldly bring all our prayers, pouring out our hearts. God is our refuge. That’s who He was in the beginning, who He is now, and who He always will be.        By John Blase What does the phrase “God is our refuge” mean to you? What is one thing on your heart you’d like to pour out to Him? Loving God, thank You for being my safe and protected dwelling place.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT Many of David’s psalms came from a time of exile. Yahweh’s prophet Samuel had anointed him king over Israel (1 Samuel 16:13), but he waited years to experience many of the benefits. Later in life, he spent time on the run from his own son Absalom (2 Samuel 15). David’s confidence in God as a rock, refuge, and fortress wasn’t new in those moments of his life. He understood in his debut battle with the Philistine warrior Goliath that Yahweh was a warrior-God. But back then, David could do something—he fought the giant on the field of battle. However, Psalm 62 describes how he had to trust God when he couldn’t do something about his predicament. The psalm gives us a peek into David’s growing realization that even when he’s helpless, his God is not. Jed Ostoich