Jason Silver

Tuesday, January 1st, 2019

A Spiritual Fort

When I was a kid, I loved to build forts. You probably did too: drape a blanket over the coffee table, or nail some boards to a tree. I also liked to draw castles on graph paper, complete with secret passages, unconquerable defences, integrated escape routes, and more.

I didn't realize it at the time, but I think I was acting out some ancestral instinct to find a place of protection.

Again we see this word, ‘refuge’, which is so often used in the Psalms. I looked up the definition, which is very much like a fort! It's defined as a place to hide, and a place to be protected from one's enemies. When you have refuge, you are safe from pursuit, from danger, or from trouble. A refuge is a type of shelter from whatever may assail you.

It might not make sense to the casual observer why someone would seek refuge in God. God can't be seen, or touched, and some might even say it seems foolhardy to put one's safety in the hands of something so intangible.

And yet, if you speak with someone who stands on this faith, you'll hear the same thing: God is indeed a protector! As David notes in Psalm 16, God blesses us in innumerable ways when we put our trust in Him!

Look at verse 2: David says, "Apart from you I have NO good thing!" That's quite the statement. Can you say that everything good in your life is directly a consequence of God? I know I can. My wife, my children, my talents, the things I like and enjoy, the things that make me who I am; each of them are a blessing from the Lord.

Oh God, you are my refuge! Apart from you I have no good thing!

Amen.