Running to the Refuge {Day 4}: Refuge of Salvation

You do not have to read long in the Psalms to come across a phrase like save me, O God or rescue me from my enemies.  Throughout all time, people have cried out to God for deliverance from enemies or hardship.  It's in our DNA to pray when the going gets tough.

Today as we think about God being our refuge of salvation, however, I want to take us a step further.  Yes, God hears those who cry out to Him and comes to their aid, saving them from circumstances or situations.  But there is a permanent salvation that we can know when we take refuge in God, the salvation of our souls.

As I was gathering up and sifting through refuge verses, I came across Psalm 2, and an epiphany.  The end of the Psalm reads:

Therefore, you kings be wise;
   be warned, you rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear
   and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, let he be angry
   and you be destroyed in your way,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
   Blessed are those who take refuge in him.

Blessed can be translated, happy.  Happy are those who take refuge in Him!  Why?  Here's the epiphany.  God is either our refuge our our enemy.  Those are the only to options for relationship with our Creator.  When we put our faith in Him, trusting that the blood of Jesus is our only hope for forgiveness of sins, the enemy God becomes our refuge God!

We will find ourselves in situations where we need the saving hand of God to work a miracle to change the circumstances.   But our greatest problem - the sin that is a chasm between us and God, unbridgeable by good works - is what we most need salvation from.  God provides the cross as the bridge, His Son's very life.  God, the enemy, offers Himself as our best, eternal, and only refuge!

This truth, the reminder of in in a fresh way from Scripture, stops me in my tracks.


Can you believe it?  Do you believe it?

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!  For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled , shall we be saved through His life!  Romans 5:9-10

Our human hearts long for a refuge, not only from the relentless difficulties we encounter in this world, but also from the immense power of sin in our lives.  God alone offers that refuge.  Our enemy reaches out by His Spirit through His Son and invites us to take refuge in Him.  If you know this deep refuge in the Lord, rejoice!  If you do not, respond to His invitation today!*


Running Orders!

• Here are a few other passages to read for your edification today:
• Psalm 37:37-40  Why does God save righteous/upright?  Hint: read the last line
• Psalm 62, all of it, but particularly verses 5-8  Our salvation and honor depend solely on God.  He is the savior, the saving refuge.  Write out these verses and put them somewhere you can see them regularly, to be reminded of how God is your Refuge of Salvation.

Till tomorrow, walk in His way, which is the way of trust and faith!

Blessed are those who take refuge in Him.

*Please let me know if you would like to talk more about making this decision!