refuge in God means the shelter we have from him, and we accept and receive in our hearts as our only true Lord, we begin to receive his blessings, his absolute support, his divine protection, as the word reveals:
“Only in God is my soul silent; From him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my refuge, I will not slip too much ” (Psalms 62)
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In this quote, God reveals to us that he is our salvation, which is the rock where we must affirm ourselves so as not to slip and it is our refuge where we can feel safe. So we must be certain of these words and keep them in our hearts as one of his promises.
What does it mean to have refuge in God?
When we talk about refuge we can think of a place of protection that it has the firmness so that nothing happens to us there, that it has thick walls, locks, a roof, that is, that it has elements that generate confidence in us to stay in there.
Any image you can think of that resembles a shelter should be a safe place where you would like to be. In the Bible, God is shown to us as our refuge, our strength, our support:
“God is our refuge and strength, our prompt help in tribulations. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth be removed, And the mountains be transferred to the heart of the sea; Although its waters roar and turbulence, and the mountains tremble because of its roughness. Selah From the river its currents rejoice the city of God, The sanctuary of the dwellings of the Most High. God is in the midst of it; will not be moved. God will help her when the morning dawns.” (Psalms 46:1-5)
In this sense, our Lord represents our shield against adversityour refuge where we can remain calm while waiting for your response.
For this reason as believers we must walk with firm steps and certain because we have a living God who encamps around those who believe in him and fear him: “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, And defends them (Psalms 34:7)
Knowing the Lord as our refuge allows us to freely trust Him, so we should not fear situations or people who want to harm our well-being, either physically or spiritually.
In this way, there is no situation that we face that is out of our Father’s control, so the best place to be is close to Him: “A strong tower is the name of the Lord; the just shall run into it, and be lifted up” (Proverbs 18:10).
Biblical examples of what Refuge in God means in the lives of your children
In the Bible we can find different examples of the meaning of having God as our refuge. David is one of these characters who put understanding and knowing God as your only refuge real.
At different times in his life, David was literally escaping from people, since they wanted to kill him, but he always found his refuge and protection in God. As his word states: “In God is my salvation and my glory; in God is my strong rock and my refuge. Hope in him at all times, O peoples; pour out your hearts before him; God is our refuge” (Psalm 62:7-8).
In this sense, one of the ways in which we can make God be our refuge it is asking him with fervor and faith, just as David did, where he poured out his heart regarding what was happening in his life and asked God to help him in the midst of his tribulation.
So when we seek God from the heart, we will begin to know what our true refuge is, since many times we seek to fill gaps with material things or with people. But we must understand that only God offers us the greatest security in our lives.
On the other we find the leaders of Israel in the days of Isaiah, who tried to find security in things other than the Lord. As can be seen in the book of Isaiah 28:15, the Lord rebukes them for saying: “we have put our refuge in lies, and in falsehood we will hide”.
Certainly we can be tempted to look for security in things other than God, but these things can only give us a false sense of security that is ephemeral, since the only one that can give us the true protection is our Godwho offers us a refuge to rest.
However, it is important to highlight that in this world we will have to go through difficult situations that can cause us anguish, sadness and can weaken our faith. But God will not put us in situations that we cannot overcome.
In the same way we find Jesus, who led the disciples into a boat, knowing full well that a great storm was approaching. The disciples were terrified, but Jesus, who was his refuge, was able to calm the storm, as seen in the following passage:
“And as he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, a storm arose in the sea so great that the waves covered the boat; but he slept. And his disciples came and woke him up, saying: Lord, save us, we are perishing! He said to them: Why are you afraid, you of little faith? Then he, getting up, he rebuked the winds and the sea; and he became a great bonanza ” (Matthew 8:23-26).
This quote is a clear example of what it means have God as our refuge, since we can rest in his presence and wait for him to take control of all things. When we speak of refuge, we speak of Jesus as our house in which we dwell, in which we remain confident.
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We can also see how on many occasions, God led the Israelites to battle against armies much more powerful than them. But when they trusted God and obeyed him, they managed to winas can be seen in the following passage:
“Now, Jericho was shut up, shut up tight, because of the children of Israel; no one came in or out. But Jehovah said to Joshua: Look, I have given Jericho into your hand and its king, with its men of war they emerged victorious. (Joshua chapters 6: 1-2).
In this sense, God supports us when he entrusts us with a mission, that is why we must obey the will of the Father because there will always be a victory in the midst of fulfilling his designs.
Therefore, even if we have afflictions and struggles to overcome, our refuge will always be God, since he also offers us the tools to defend ourselves from the evil one and if we pray and maintain communion with God, we will always be under the coverage of the Almighty because we are his children and under their we will be safe: “I will not forsake you, nor will I leave you; so that we can confidently say: The Lord is my helper; I will not fear what man can do to me” (Hebrews 13:5-6).
Refuge in God in times of distress
Being children of God does not imply being relieved of all problems, of having an intact life, of always being healthy and strong. This is totally false because we are human beings and we live in a hostile world full of adversities, diseases and chaos.
However, when we are certain that our Father is with us, our life is different and begins to change. manifest the glory of God and the Holy Spirit permeates and perfumes the areas of your life, even in the midst of problems.
We can clearly see this in the Bible, where the prophet Nahum points out the following: “Good is the Lord; He is a refuge in the day of trouble, and a protector of those who trust in him.” (Nahum 1:7).
This quote shows us that in the midst of our weaknesses, we can find refuge in our God because he gives us security in our walk and gives us the tools to face adversity even if we do not have the strength to continue.
The trials of life are part of a process that we must go through to manifest through our testimony, the supernatural power that God has to lift us up and glorify himself in our life.
That is to say, he will work in all areas, at home, at church, at work, in our interpersonal relationships and at all times. In this way, as believers we can fail and our faith can falter because our carnal part will always interfere in our lives.
So we will be battling the rest of our lives, however when we understand that God is our refuge and he fights for us, we will find the peace that passes all understanding:
“With him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and fight our battles. And the people trusted in the words of Hezekiah king of Judah. (2 Chronicles 32:8)
In this quote, we are shown that as believers we will have trials and adversities, but our fight is not against people, rather it is a spiritual fightin which we have at our disposal the armor of Christ, who represents our absolute refuge in the midst of difficulties.
We can see this in the Bible: “Therefore, take the whole armor of God, so that you can resist on the bad day, and having finished everything, stand firm. Stand firm, then, with your loins girded with truth, and clothed with the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, take the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the fiery darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:13-17)
Before all the problems that can be presented to us, we find in the word all the answers. The book of Psalms offers us a model in which we can express what we feel from our hearts, just as the king did David who exposed all his burdens before the Lordand he listened to him:
“Defend me, Lord, from those who attack me; fight those who fight me. Take your buckler, your shield, and come to my aid. Take up the spear and the axe, and face those who pursue me. I want to hear you say: “I am your salvation” (Psalms 35:1-3)
In this sense, these psalms of lament always begin with a call to trust and faith in the Lord manifested as a request from our heart. So the central part of the psalms of lament is to reveal our being, to let off steam, to expose our feelings and to show him our weaknesses.
In this way, this model that we find in the psalms gives us an idea of the way in which we should resort to God as our refuge and soon help in the midst of our anguish and pain. Understand that he will not reject us when we are troubled.
It is not bad to feel this way, the bad thing is to hide it or not reveal it to God because we would be being hypocritical with God, saying that everything is fine when it really is not.
Many times, being sad seems to be seen as a sin, as lack of faithbut we feel sadness simply because we are human beings with weaknesses, but in the midst of our weakness God strengthens us to the extent that we open up to him and tell him everything we feel.
Remember that you only owe explanations to him, only he is the one who has the authority to judge you. Don’t allow anyone to label you or love you…