You are my hiding place;

You always fill my heart

With songs of deliverance;

Whenever I am afraid,

I will trust in You…

“Happy are those who take refuge in Him” (Psalm 2:12; 34:8)

Albert Schweitzer was of the opinion that cats and music are the only refuge from the miseries of life. Some of my friends would add hunting, fishing, golf, strong drink, sensual delight and other diversions.

But in all this world’s misery there is but one sure refuge: God himself. “He is a shield for all who take refuge in him” (Psalm 18:30).

To take refuge is “to hide in” or “hide with” and suggests a secret place of concealment, a “hidey hole,” we used to say in Texas. When we’re exhausted by our efforts, when we’re bewildered by our problems, when we’re wounded by our fellows, when we’re surrounded by our foes, we can hide ourselves in God-the only safe place on earth.

It’s hard to hide ourselves in something or someone we cannot see. Visible, people and places seem much safer, tangible sanctuaries more secure. We wonder if God can be trusted. We suffer with doubt and fear, as all God’s people do. “If the Lord is my refuge, why do I find no refuge?” Charles Spurgeon asked a friend on one occasion.

We remember the allure of the haunts and habits of the past, the old concealments that felt so safe and gave us such good feelings. Our rising thoughts tempt us to return.

But there’s no safety in this world. God has withheld it, for if we found safety here it would teach us to rest our hearts on this earth and we would get no further. We would never know the joy of God’s love and protection; we would miss the happiness for which we are made.

The only safe place is God himself. When storm clouds gather and calamities loom we must run into his presence with prayer and remain there-“take refuge (hide) in the shadow of his wings until the disaster has passed” (Psalm 57:1).

George MacDonald said, “That man is perfect in faith who can come to God in the utter dearth of his feelings and desires, without a glow or an aspiration, with the weight of low thoughts, failures, neglects, and wandering forgetfulness, and say to him, ‘Thou art my refuge'”

Then–how safe and happy we are.[1]

DHR 10/9/02

[1] Aslan created the talking bears and said to them, “Laugh and fear not,” for in Aslan’s country they were protected.

———————- David & Carolyn Roper Idaho Mountain Ministries