I read this morning that as thousands of Ukrainian women and children arrived at Berlin’s railway station fleeing war, they were met with a surprise-German families holding homemade signs offering refuge in their homes. “Can host two people!” one sign read. “Big room [available],” read another. Asked why she offered such hospitality to fleeing strangers, one woman said her mother had needed refuge while fleeing the Nazis and she wanted to help others in such need. (Source: Our Daily Bread-9/13-Sheldon Voysey author)
The word refuge stood out to me as I read that story. I think of a refuge as a place to hunker down during a storm. There have been times I have been out riding my bike when a storm has hit unexpectedly (and I was trying hard to beat it). Out of necessity I have ridden in a misty rain or a steady rain (Getting from Point A to Point B), all the while looking for a place to get out of the rain. But a storm? I look for the first porch, first barn, first roof, first covered inset of a building to (hopefully) wait out the storm.
Multiple times in the book of Psalms we read the word refuge. Here are a few:
Psalm 2:12- “Kiss the Son…Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.”
Psalm 5:11- “Let all who take refuge in you rejoice…”
Psalm 7:1- “O Lord my God, in you I take refuge…”
Psalm 11:1- “In the Lord I take refuge…”
Psalm 16:1- “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge…”
Psalm 46:1- “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (It is reported H.G. Wells once said, “God is an ever absent help in time of trouble.”)
As you can see the verses speaking of God as a refuge are many, and those are just a small handful of verses from Psalms.
Storms come. They know no discrimination. They know no boundaries. We will all experience storms. Some catastrophic; some light. Some inexplicable; some easy to read. What makes a difference is to WHOM we run. In WHOM will we seek refuge? David, the author of most of the Psalms, found his refuge in God.
What about you? Where will you find your refuge?
