Are you in any trouble? Is anything troubling you?
In order to find refuge, you must first seek it. You wouldn’t be looking to find refuge unless you know that you are in trouble.
When you are aware of the battles that you are forced to engage in, you know right away that you need to find refuge from things like doubts about your very identity, avenging yourself, and lies that lead to death.
Singing Psalm 7 to find refuge regarding your identity
You find refuge only in Christ as you attempt to untangle the hairy web of identity politics testifying that your very identity is under attack constantly from within yourself and reinforced by group think.
When your identity is in Christ, you constantly identify with and find refuge in him.
He came as a man who was different from all other men in that he had no sin in what he thought, said, or did. He had no separation from the Father and the Spirit. He never acted independently but was always dependent on the Father and in line with the Spirit. Anyone who took the time to listen to him was drawn to him and could find refuge in him, and by extrapolation, find refuge in the triune God.
What is the threat that makes war imminent?
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” ~ 1 Peter 5:8
The devil is like a roaring lion looking to devour you from the inside out tempting you all day long to doubt your secure position in Christ.
He infiltrates your mind, your body, your desires, your heart motivation, even your very strength, attacking and making you vulnerable to doubt, insecurity, fear, worry, anger, lust, and loneliness to name just a few of his fiery darts.
Mostly, you are tempted to look inside yourself for your identity. When you don’t find clarity there, you’re tempted to take matters into your own hands independent from God.
Rather than seek and find refuge in him consoled that you were created in his image, you attempt to recreate yourself in the image of your own imaginings.
The problem is that God didn’t create you to do that but to find refuge in your identity in Christ. He frees you from self-focus and remakes you into one who genuinely cares about others. He remakes you more and more like Jesus as you put one foot in front of the other to follow him.
Since the enemy’s rage is so intense as singing Psalm 7 alerts you, the Lord your God rises up to meet it in anger against that enemy. You find refuge as he defends you out of his rich mercy and steadfast love for you.
When you are wondering who you are, where are you supposed to be, and with whom, you can take all of that to the triune God. He is not daunted, frazzled, confused, or reluctant to be with you, in close relationship with you.
He will set you on a clear path that will lead you closer and closer to him each moment, each day, over the span of time that he has prepared in advance. You will be where he wants you to be, ultimately in the place where you know you are supposed to be.
How is God fighting to free your identity? How can you continue to find refuge in him?
God fights all that oppose him, all that would be happy to enslave you. He draws you to seek him. You find refuge in him by seeking him first and most, moment-by-moment.
You find refuge in him as you engage with his body, his church, as you encourage one another to look to Christ for strength, wisdom, truth, and love.
In this way, you avoid being the lone straggler who is easily picked off and devoured by the enemy.
You find refuge as singing Psalm 7 brings awareness that God is making you like himself as you seek him. He is making you confident in who you are in Christ so that you no longer put confidence in the flesh.
“For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” ~ Romans 7:22-25
“They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” ~ Revelation 22:4-5
God did a wonderful work when he made you in his image. He did his job. Your job is to ask him to shine the light of his face on you to help you figure out how to be who he made you to be. Your job is not to attempt to remake yourself into any other image. This flies in the face of group think and social media posts as prolific as dandelions on a lawn gone wild.
Singing Psalm 7 to find refuge in divine retribution
You find refuge from Satan’s relational attacks in the presence of Christ.
“Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.” ~ 2 Corinthians 2:10-11
You forgive someone for the sake of the person needing forgiveness. This is done in Christ’s presence as he gives the nod to forgiveness. Satan’s plan is to work vengeance in your heart toward those who have sinned against you, not to forgive them. Knowing his design is a relationally disordered scheme, learning to forgive is the way to not be outwitted by him.
Thinking of relationships that have not been close or connected can bring you both deep sadness and almost at the same time tears of joy as you consider Jesus’ plan to undo every bit of strife, miscommunication, and misunderstanding and to turn them into kindred spirits, sources of peace, joy, comfort, and unshakable love.
David did not always act with integrity yet sang about when he did. He trusted God to reward him and to be with him and to fight for him. He credited God for the victory that he understood would have been impossible if he were not dependent upon God.
This should give you and me great confidence and courage and hope to persevere. If we are honest and sober, we know how sinful we are. David knew how sinful he was. And just like David, God will be with you and me as we depend on him and not on ourselves. There is only one righteous one. Refuse to tout your own goodness and hide yourself in him.
Time is a gift from the Lord that makes it possible for you to suffer and wait for his sure return and reward.
Picture this: you find refuge in him, hiding under his wings, the perfect shield from Satan‘s constant stream of fiery darts. The Lord waits until just the right time to hurl the dagger he has prepared, perfectly aimed. With one blow the devil is destroyed along with sin and death forever.
This is what Jesus accomplished on the cross. He rose from the dead, and he’s coming back for all who eagerly wait for him.
Why not rather be wronged? Is he not worth waiting for?
Every communication misunderstanding, every severed relationship, every misspoken word, all will be undone, redeemed, and restored to the beauty that God intended for it all along.
He will either destroy the desire to do evil in a man or even a generation, or he will destroy the man or the generation who persists in and will not repent of evil.
Because he is so rich and lavish in mercy, he eagerly does the former and reluctantly does the latter in perfect justice.
You so identify with your maker, that his attributes are melding into your attitude. Your very thoughts are tethered to his. Your attitudes and activities are transformed. You have the mind of Christ, and most comforting of all, God knows it.
“O let the evil of wicked men cease,
And all the righteous establish in peace;
God, who is righteous examines and finds
All of the depths of men’s hearts and their minds.” ~ Psalm 7:9
God is a God of peace and does not relish in war. Yet he is the most adept at it and will fight for you against those who would pursue and destroy you (Goliath) if you did not find refuge in the Lord your God (David).
He is patient and fights for the sole purpose of bringing about peace. His righteous anger expresses his deep mercy and love toward those he protects, his own people, his body, his church!
Look at the fate of those who try to destroy others. Indeed, as singing Psalm 7 illuminates, the evil they intended came back on them. Consider how the lives of these men ended and work backwards: Saul, Absalom, Hamon, Judas.
This teaches you to find refuge in God to guard your heart so that you would not want to destroy others but rather lead them to find refuge in God as you have.
More often than not, God used people as instruments in his hands to suffer greatly so that he could have mercy and give the gift of repentance to the perpetrators who through their evil actions caused suffering.
As you think of Joseph, David, Daniel, Azariah, Mishael, Hananiah, and as you think of Jesus, you learned that there is hope and comfort awaiting you in spite of your sins, the evil you have done, and the evil others have done and you suffered for. Remembering this will teach your heart to go to Jesus for mercy and forgiveness in your and in others’ time of need.
There is no greater peace within a man, no safer way to find refuge, than when he knows that God knows all these things and does right in it all.
Singing Psalm 7 to find refuge in life-bearing truth
Singing Psalm 7, the process of conception, pregnancy, and giving birth unto true life is juxtaposed with yielding lies unto death.
You find refuge knowing the triune God not only resolves the problem of sin and death that results from it but also resolves the problem of friendship.
Because he searches and knows the truth of what goes on in your heart and mind at all times (Psalm 7:9), you find refuge in him because he is the only friend who will never misunderstand you. He always gets you. He does not miss a thing.
That’s comforting when you are pure in heart and falsely accused. That’s also comforting when you are impure in heart and accepted by the world because your best friend, the holy God, makes it his business to purify you on the anvil of suffering tailor-made to purge lies and death from you and to bless you instead with life-giving truth in love.
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ~ John 8:31-32
You find refuge in his salvation and never look back. What necessarily follows is that you are free to find refuge continually and forevermore in his friendship.
“Look at the man in labor with his sin:
Conceiving evil, he gives birth to lies.
He digs a pit, but falls in it himself;
His vicious plans come down on his own head.” ~ Psalm 7:14-16
“But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” ~ James 1:14-15
The conception of desires focused on self leads to evil. Mischievous thoughts are pregnant with sin. Lies give birth to death. Yet in the end you will find refuge in him when you seek his friendship.
God’s natural bent is toward mercy, but when it comes to defending his own, he is prepared to fight on your behalf. Since God always wins, it is wise never to fight him.
He is patient when provoked, but it is foolish to provoke his people because he is eager to defend them. And it bears repeating that God always wins. You find refuge in him as you hide under his wings from any and all trouble and wait for the ultimate victory.
“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” ~ 1 John 3:2
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.” ~ Isaiah 55:8-9
Although you will be like him, you find refuge depending on him who is always above you. And you praise him.
“ I will give thanks to Him who is the LORD
According to His perfect righteousness;
And I will sing to Him forevermore.
I’ll praise His name; He is the LORD Most High.” ~ Psalm 7:17
May 30, 2022 – May 12, 2023
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