I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.”
Psalms 91:2
Refuge.
Shelter or protection from danger, or a place of security, or anything that provides recourse, aid, or relief.
It’s what we flee to in order to be safe internally and externally.
That place where we feel most comfortable amid our fears, knowing that even if the worst happens…
We’re. Still. Safe.
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling.
Psalms 91:9
Why do we think a threat is always big? A storm. A hurricane. A tsunami.
Today we’re fighting an enemy so tiny and vicious countries don’t even know how to defeat it.
So where should we go for refuge after we’ve gone inside and locked our doors and stayed put but a small predator still rages?
We. Must. Reach. Higher.
No harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent.
Psalms 91:10
In the quiet, if we listen well we might just hear the truth: The Lord is the only real refuge that exists.
After this virus has come and gone. After we’ve moved out of our self-distanced habitats and launched into the new normal. After we cease hoarding toilet paper and water and sanitizer or whatever we hope will make life bearable during our quarantined daze.
After all that.
When we realize nothing harmed us and the disaster passed.
Will we acknowledge who chose to keep us? Will we truly understand refuge? Will we get it in our gut?
The refuge was never a what, it was always a who.
And all it takes to know that and to know Him is for us to spend weeks as refugees inside a camp called the globe, looking around for help and hope and healing and we have to and in fact we must stop searching anxiously around and…
Just. Look. Up.