God is Our Refuge
I don’t know about you, but there have been times during this season of quarantine when I just want to escape. While I have no valid reason to complain, I continue to find my heart in a state of frustration and exhaustion from the stress… particularly from my children.
They are at needy stages, don’t understand what is going on in our world, and are sad and frustrated by the ways they are being affected. One of them is able to communicate this on a very basic level, but the other doesn’t have the ability to quite yet. So, she clings to me and cries and won’t let me put her down. I am their refuge, but I am only a human and cannot bear the weight of their needs on my own. Sometimes, I just want to cry myself.
My Place of Quiet Retreat
One day, I laid them down for naptime and escaped to the back yard. I sat in a lawn chair under the shade of a tree and opened my Bible. This is what I read:
“You are my hiding place and my shield;
I wait for Your word.”
Psalm 119:114, NASB
The Message says it this way:
“You’re my place of quiet retreat;
I wait for your Word to renew me.”
Psalm 119:114, MSG
That verse was like medicine for my heart. The compression in my chest loosened as I considered the amount of times I’ve escaped to the bathroom just to take a deep breath away from the chaos. The Lord was showing me that he wanted to be my place of quiet retreat and that he is a much better hiding place and shield than the bathroom door.
My Rock and My Fortress
Scripture paints the best picture of who he truly is to his saints in Psalm 18:2, “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” I quickly realized that just as my children find comfort and security in me, so I can find the same assurance in my heavenly Father who is always inviting me to cling and cry to him. He is the one, true refuge for our weary souls. As Martin Luther so eloquently penned, “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.”
And when I do collapse into the cleft of the Rock of Ages, not only do I find a sufficient shield from the struggles of life, but I also experience renewal in my soul through his Word. Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” (Matthew 11:28). He is always beckoning me to himself because he knows that he is the only source of peace that endures (John 14:27). He alone can provide the energy I need to keep going when I feel like I have nothing left to give (Isaiah 40:29).
Galatians 2:20-21 says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” . In Christ alone was the fullness of God pleased to dwell, and now, because of his life, death, and resurrection, that same spirit dwells within me, pouring life into my mortal body (Colossians 1:19; Romans 8:11).
So, maybe you aren’t literally hiding from your stressors in a bathroom, but perhaps there are other ways you are trying to escape. Television? Work? Exercise? Chores? Other people’s problems? We have so many outlets to distract us and so many coping mechanisms. Most aren’t bad in and of themselves, but they aren’t medicine. My prayer for all of us during this strange season is to find refuge, strength, and true life in Christ and Christ alone.
-Ashley Johnson
