Seek Refuge in the Lord
A place of protection, of hope, and of comfort but first we have to get in the door
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Monday Morning this week will likely be delayed. My computer problems are still working themselves out, which means the applications, like Logos that I use for research and scripture, was not there. I’ve had to spend most of the morning reinstalling Logos and Grammarly, setting them up, and getting back to where I was, almost.
I didn’t start that until I was ready to start this, when I realized I needed to copy and paste a few things. Now, I’m ready to go, but things aren’t set up quite right. Anyway, that’s not what Monday Morning is supposed to be about. Let’s look at the scripture from Sunday’s lesson.
4I sought the Lord, and He answered me, And delivered me from all my fears.
5They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces will never be ashamed.
6This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him And saved him out of all his troubles.
7The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them.
8O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
Psalm 34:4–8 (NASB95)
We talked about in class seeking the Lord as the thing that we have to do to feel “delivered” even when our situation hasn’t changed. Sometimes people refuse to accept God because scripture says things like “delivered me from all my fears,” but we’re still afraid or the thing we wanted God to deal with wasn’t delt with. Because of that people decide God isn’t really there or doesn’t really care about us. My point and scripture hints at this, is that when we look to God for help, we have to look to God’s ways as the solution or at least part of the solution. If we look to God for help but aren’t willing to look to His ways as part of that help, it’s like the person who asks for advice and ignores what you tell them to do. God doesn’t look at us that way, but it puts our position in perspective.
Verse five makes more sense when we read it from the perspective that we are accepting His ways. That’s the part of repentance we talked about in small group that affects our feeling delivered from our fears. Before I break down repentance, let’s read the scripture from the lesson again. These are red-letter words from Jesus.
2And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate?
3“I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
4“Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem?
5“I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
Luke 13:2–5 (NASB95)
Repentance has two parts to it. First, we have to acknowledge we did something wrong. If we aren’t willing to look at God’s ways and see our failure to follow them or follow them correctly, we are asking God to fix something we’re going to undo later anyway. It is an act of humility when we repent of something because we acknowledge His ways as higher and better than what we think should be done.
The second part of repentance is turning from that thing we just acknowledged God doesn’t like. We’ve successfully defeated pride in this instance, but now we have to put down that behavior and move away from it. That’s hard to do at first, but it becomes easier. Again, if we aren’t willing to stop doing the thing we’ve said we understand God doesn’t like, then do we really believe that? Our actions become the fruits by which we will be known.
When we repent from things, we demonstrate our sincerity about God’s ways. That sincerity becomes the radiance we radiate as we reflect God’s light to the world around us. Because we are allowing God’s ways to be our guide we have no shame in our actions because we can point to scripture and the Bible to explain our actions rather than have to justify why we are doing something a certain way.
Verse six merely correctly describes us as “poor,” meaning poor in spirit. That poor in spirit usually is because we’re trying to accomplish really difficult or impossible for us tasks on our own, and we can’t. When we finally acknowledge we need God, it is like the prodigal son returning home to his father with the party and the festivities.
Imagine verse seven as our own personal defender with a flaming sword at the ready, vigilant for any and all attacks. Of course, we still have things that occur in life we have to deal with, but once we enter into God’s ways, that decision brings with it a peace that we either already know how to deal with something or know where to go to figure out how to deal with something unknown.
Our final verse, verse 8, brings us to the word “taste.” It was brought up in class as to why this word was used. Tasting is sampling. It isn’t scooping out a huge portion of something unknown. When we’ve run out of options, and all that is left to us is God, trying it His way, this once is tasting. Tasting and seeing that the Lord is good is being open to actually changing how we live to adhere to how God says we should do it. There will be problems, certainly. But we can continue to “taste” as we seek refuge in Him by continuing to bring our actions in line with how He says to do things. With nothing else but our attitude and perspective shifted, we see the world in a different light, the light of the Lord. That light becomes the warmth and glow we bask in that comforts us even when the things we fear remain because we know the Father has enshrouded His child with His loving, protective arms and the Son walks with us through His Holy Spirit.
1Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.
2For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.
3For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.
4For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Romans 10:1–4 (NASB95)