The refuge

Friday February 4, 2022

The refuge

“Yes, You are for me a refuge, a fortified tower, in front of the enemy.” Psalm 61. 4

A refuge is both a place of protection and a place of rest. We sometimes burn out because our success and ambition suffocate us or because we are unable to know where to find true rest. Samson was able to fight alone against a thousand enemy soldiers, without succeeding in overcoming his loneliness. The result was that he only managed to relax with his head on Delila's lap. TD. Jakes said : "Delila's weapons were not her lips, nor her hips, nor her fingernails, but the understanding that Samson was weary, that he was suffering from inner loneliness." David cried out : “You are a refuge for me”, when he was quite alone himself. But he found the solution to his need in the presence of God. Samson did not find this solution and died too young. Certainly, Delila's knees seemed to him a welcoming refuge, but he stayed there too long, spoke indiscriminately and lost all that had made him strong and dignified. When we are tired, disillusioned, or depressed, we become vulnerable. If we stubbornly fight on our own, we risk having to learn, through suffering, an essential lesson from God : “He gives me rest...” (Psalm 23:2). Your “Delila” can take on the face of any element of your life that saps your strength, but in which you have too much confidence. It could be your career, an ingrained habit, a relationship with someone, a hobby that absorbs you... anything you turn to for escape from the present. Flee the arms of your Delilah to take refuge with Jesus because “He gives strength to the weary, and He multiplies the resources of the exhausted” (Isaiah 40. 29). He alone is the true refuge !

Source (His Word for Today)