"Lord my God, I take refuge in you; save and deliver me from all who pursue me, or they will tear me apart like a lion and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.”- Psalm 7:1-2
David knew with certainty that his ultimate refuge was found in the Lord. When the storms of life come in their many various forms, and they surely come, God is the only safe harbor we can truly rely on in the midst of the tempest. Everything else is a temporary reprieve or a mere distraction in time away from the problem or the threat we are facing. However, when we put our head on the pillow at night, we cannot trick our own soul, so the problem or the threat does not go away or diminish from a temporary elixir. Apart from God, it only grows until it destroys us.
The word refuge is defined as “shelter or protection from danger or distress: a place that provides shelter or protection, or something to which one has recourse in difficulty.” We sometimes have to learn this lesson the hard way in our lives that only God is a true refuge for us in this life. I used to try escaping painful or dangerous situations through using marijuana, alcohol or other illicit substances or behaviors, only to find out that when the buzz wore off, I was worse off than before. I had just kicked the can down the road, but I hadn’t dealt at all with the underlying problem. Only God can do that for us and many times it’s in simply surrendering to God and acknowledging that only He can give us the refuge that we are seeking.
David felt threatened because his life was often in peril by jealous foes who sought to eliminate him. He knew that God alone could protect him, so he turned to him in his anguish and despair with deep prayer and an intense longing for him. Over time, David relied on God above all of his human wisdom, strength or influence and he eventually learned that anything that can drive us to seek One thing I have learned from David is that when the shaking comes into our life through a situation that we are not equipped to deal with, God is the only One who can save us from our fear and utter helplessness to deal with the situation. He is the refuge we must run to for our protection and for our sanity. He is our firm foundation, all other things our shifting sand.