Worth Considering… A Thought for Today Finding Refuge “In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in Your righteousness deliver me! Incline Your ear to me; rescue me speedily! Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me! Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!” –Psalm 31:1-2, 24 (ESV). Say “nine-eleven” and most of us in America and in other places throughout the world will remember the date, September 11, 2001, the day of atrocities and calamities in America when the Twin Towers were destroyed in New York City by planes in enemy hands with destruction in mind. Likewise, one plane hit a portion of The Pentagon in Washington and a fourth, through brave action of a passenger diverted the plane to crash in a field rather than its intended target, a strategic government building in Washington. Hundreds of innocent lives were lost; fear gripped our nation, times have not been the same since, safety and security seem to evade us. Where can we find refuge? After nine-eleven, there came an upsurge of prayer, church attendance, calling upon the Lord. This was well and good, but the return and seeking refuge in the Lord again diminished. What can we say? We see ourselves as a self-sufficient people, a nation that can buckle down and face whatever calamities arise. Our dependence on God as our refuge diminishes as we find a sufficiency in our own strength and will to adjust and move forward. Jonathan Cahn has written a probing book entitled THE HARBINGER in which he sees 9/11 as a warning (harbinger) that God allows atrocities to happen to awaken people, to cause them to change their ways and return to God, their only true refuge. Yet they begin to take pride in their own abilities to rebuild as noted in Isaiah 9:10: “The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place.” A dire statement of judgment follows, so important that it is stated twice in Isaiah 9:21b and 10:4b: “For all this His anger has not turned away, and His hand is stretched out still.” What hard lesson do we learn from 9/11? We cannot find safety in our own strength and our ability to rebuild or to make stronger defenses. The return to God must be consistent, continuous and sincere. Only He can “set my feet in a broad (safe) place” (Psalm 31:8b) and as we “wait for the Lord” we can “be strong” and “take courage” (Psalm 31:24), for in Him alone is our refuge. –Ethelene Dyer Jones 09.12.2013
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 08:01:33 +0000
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