Our Bountiful Refuge

The heading of my Bible of Psalm 142 attributes it to David with this description:  "A prayer when he was in the cave."  When King Saul's murderous intentions were revealed through his pursuit of David and the killing of the priests at Nob, David was forced into hiding.  It seemed wherever he turned his whereabouts were reported to Saul who was never far behind.  Though David had hundreds of men who followed him, they were nothing compared to the thousands of mighty men that attended King Saul.  Even in the cave it was evident his trust remained steadfast in God who was his true refuge.

Psalm 142:4-5 reads, "Look on my right hand and see, for there is no one who acknowledges me; refuge has failed me; no one cares for my soul. ⁵ I cried out to You, O LORD: I said, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living."  David felt alone in his troubles, but he knew he was not alone.  In the dark recesses of the cave David hid from the sight of Saul, yet his eyes were fixed on God in whom David sought refuge by faith and reliance upon Him.  Perhaps out of fear of retribution people did not acknowledge how David had been wrongly persecuted, yet David was convinced God was his portion to receive and cling to.  What a great example this is of the necessity for those who trust in God to continue steadfastly by faith in God even when all seems against us.

William Gurnall provided insights to this end in Christian in Complete Armour, how courage and resolution is required for God's people to wrestle with and overcome difficulties God allows:

"All Israel came joyfully out of Egypt under Moses' conduct, yea, and a mixed multitude with them, but when their bellies were a little pinched with hunger, and their greedy desires of a present Canaan deferred, yea, instead of peace and plenty, war and penury, they, like white-livered soldiers, are ready to fly from their colours, and make a dishonourable retreat into Egypt.  The greatest part of those who profess the gospel, when they come to push of pike, to be tried what they will do, deny to endure for Christ, grow sick of their enterprise.  Alas!  Their hearts fail them, they are like the waters of Bethlehem.  But if they must dispute their passage with so many enemies, they will even content themselves with their own cistern, and leave heaven to others that will venture more for it.  O how many part with Christ at this cross-way!  Like Orpah, they go a furlong or two with Christ, while he goes to take them off from their worldly hopes, and bids them prepare for hardship, and then they fairly kiss and leave him, loath indeed to lose heaven, but more loath to buy it at so dear a rate." (Gurnall, William. The Christian in Complete Armour. Banner of Truth Trust, 2002.

page 16)

See the confidence of David to see the light and goodness of God in the land of the living, for he cried out to the God he knew heard and would answer in the affirmative.  David concluded his prayer in Psalm 142:7, "Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Your name; the righteous shall surround me, for You shall deal bountifully with me."  God was mightier than David's own flesh, the wicked men who urged him to slay king Saul in the name of the LORD or all the enemies that surrounded him to destroy him.  No one on earth cared for David's soul, but God was a praiseworthy Saviour who would deal bountifully with David.  With God as his portion David had more than he could receive or fully appreciate, so great is the power and love of God towards those who fear and trust Him.

Jesus assured His disciples in this world we will have tribulation, but He also commanded them to be of good cheer because He had overcome the world.  Jesus is our refuge who has delivered us from the prison of sin and death, and His righteousness has been imputed to us.  Let us praise His holy name, for He has dealt bountifully with us--and always will.

Transformation, not Modification

As people we make an effort to present ourselves well when we stand to benefit.  A prospective employee ensures they look fit for the role when attending a job interview, and before a first date people want to look and smell their best.  Before going to a high tea, wedding or funeral we wear attire appropriate for the occasion.  When I worked in construction I was always amazed by the uniform transformation during the annual Christmas party of men who usually wore jeans and cotton shirts besotted with mastic to wearing custom suits and silk ties.  With wives and partners coming along the language cleaned up dramatically as well.  For a night we could have fooled some we were actually a civilised and well-mannered crew.  Go into the shop on Monday morning, however, and a completely different side of the boys would be revealed.

It is likely this same hypocrisy exists at some level in various areas in the lives of every person.  From our childhood we have learned what is acceptable social behaviour and what constitutes good manners.  We learn how to avoid stirring up trouble for ourselves by foul language or physical violence.  Because parents and teachers cannot change the heart or mind of others by force, they taught us to clean up our act with negative consequences and positive reinforcement.  While this may or not be true for every case, these very general statements merely make the point we have learned from family, authority figures, and society to navigate according to our will and conscience for our benefit.  While our speech, dress and behaviour provides a small glimpse of our hearts, it represents only a small aspect of us as people.

When I worked as a youth pastor, it first dawned on me that when I met with kids for counselling or teaching that I was seeing them at their best.  Their behaviour wasn't perfect, but they wanted to put their best foot forward.  I have observed people can be very good at saying what they think you or others want to hear.  I was convicted after classifying my own sinful conduct as "a moment of weakness" when God revealed to me that was actually the reality of my flesh--without the veneer of good manners or being polite--shining through in truth.  Today it occurred to me that at our worst it still would not reveal the full range of the wickedness of our hearts because God has imposed strict limits to our bodies.  Imagine if a raging toddler had the strength of Superman!  The world would not be safe!  If man was endowed with the ability to express his own sinfulness to the full, it would mean the destruction of that person and all others.  This is why we must be born again to have transformed hearts and minds, for behaviour modification falls woefully short of God's righteousness.

Paul wrote this in Romans 7:22-8:1:  "For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. ²³ But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. ¹ There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."  Praise God by grace through faith delivers us from the wretchedness of our sinful flesh.  God is merciful to put in us the will to do what pleases Him.  Those who are in Christ are free from the bondage to sin and the condemnation of the Law.  How good it is to own our sin so we might walk in the freedom and joy of the new life provided us by Jesus.  When our eyes are opened to God's goodness we see our sinfulness; when we are willing to confess and repent of our sin and wretchedness we are divinely enabled to walk in victory:  not because we are now good but because God always is and will be.

Praise the Incorruptible God

Psalm 94:8-11 extols the God Who created mankind by appealing to the ability to reason He has given us:  "Understand, you senseless among the people; and you fools, when will you be wise? ⁹ He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see? ¹⁰ He who instructs the nations, shall He not correct, He who teaches man knowledge? ¹¹ The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile."  Everything the human body can do God does infinitely better.  If God was blind He would never have considered creating an eye, and if He could not hear He would not have given us ears.  Eyes, ears and brains serve the purposes God intended, that we would see, hear and consider.

The Bible tells us God created man in His own image and likeness.  Though our thoughts and abilities are merely a shadow of God's infinite understanding and supremacy, they do provide hints of our almighty Creator.  We are able to dismiss advice as senseless, and in His infinite wisdom God knows the foolish.  Parents teach their children and some teach others as their paid profession, and thus all men need God to teach them.  Our knowledge can be great on a particular subject of interest, yet our knowledge is nothing compared to God's.  The most praiseworthy prodigy among people is mere hint of a shadow of which our Masterful God is the substance.

Because the skill or knowledge of others can exceed our own, we can be moved to envy them; we can flip to the other extreme and worship them.  The fact people are moved to worship creation is evidence there is a Creator worthy of worship.  Romans 1:20-23 reads, "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, ²¹ because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things."  God's invisible attributes are revealed in part by what He has made, even His eternal power.  Because God has given us eyes to see and minds to understand, we are without excuse.  Man's folly cannot be justified in this matter, for it is a grave sin to give glory God deserves to corruptible things created by Him.

How good it is when we are awed by the beauty in nature, the power of an athlete or the skill of an artist that we praise and exalt the God who has given such things for our enjoyment and revelation concerning Himself.  We are privileged beyond reckoning for the goodness of God we see in the land of the living day by day, and it is God Who has given us today.  The things we marvel over, the things that amaze us in a good sense, when we are baffled by the complexity of the human body, the feelings of a spouse or the timeliness of wise advice, let us worship God.  We appreciate a good sense of humour:  isn't God to thank for that as well?  Our hearts and minds are created to venerate and worship, and let us choose to offer God all our praise because He alone is worthy.  In everyday things God shows Himself to be beyond extraordinary.

Remember Our LORD

When it comes to conflict resolution, I have found the vast majority of the effort involves my own heart and mind.  We cannot do a thing to change the hearts, actions or words of others, but we can humble ourselves before God in obedience.  As much as depends upon us, we are exhorted to be peaceable with others.  Should my own mind and conscience be troubled, should I give place to bitterness, worry and malice, even should the person change I am no better for it.  Interpersonal conflict is a trigger for me to examine my own heart and be the first to change, refined by submission to God in faith and obedience.  Nearly every time conflict continues because I refuse to walk in love towards others according to the love Christ has offered me.

Our struggles to resolve conflict within ourselves can result from our lack of faith in God, our reluctance to release others from our judgment when they do not seem to realise their offence or care, and a distorted sense of justice that withholds grace from others.  Something in us wants them to know they have been wrong and to admit it.  There can even in our flesh be a desire they suffer to a degree as retribution for the suffering we have endured.  We can be more about them facing a punishment rather than our own refinement.  Yet God's redemptive purposes in allowing suffering and His strength being perfected in our weakness remain steadfast.

We have likely at some time prayed to God as the psalmist did in Psalm 137:7-8 with a desire for God's vengeance:  "Remember, O LORD, against the sons of Edom the day of Jerusalem, who said, "Raze it, raze it, to its very foundation!" ⁸ O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed, happy the one who repays you as you have served us!"  God will judge all people and nations and does not need reminders like we do.  Pain can serve as a reminder of who we believe is responsible, and under the Law of Moses it was fitting to demand an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.  However, under the New Covenant established by the shed blood of Jesus this has changed completely.  Instead of telling God to remember the sins of others so they might be punished to the full Jesus says to us, "Remember Me!"

This is powerful!  Because God is not willing that any should perish Jesus went to the cross and willingly suffered for our sin.  It was a divine demonstration of love beyond this world offered to us, that we can be forgiven, accepted, saved and given eternal life by grace through faith.  This fervent desire of God to save was revealed in the Old Testament prophet as it is written in Ezekiel 33:11:  "Say to them: 'As I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'"  We are not like God, for we delight to see people pay.  Jesus willingly paid what we could never pay on Calvary, for even 1 trillion years burning in hell for our sin would suffice for God to say, "Paid in full."

Let us remember our LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ!  As Hebrews 12:3 says, "For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls."  Jesus responded to hostility with grace, to offence with measured rebuke, to denial with loving restoration.  Instead of trotting out all the ways people have wronged us and how they ought to be punished, remember how Jesus freely absorbed all the punishment we deserved.  We demand it is only right others should pay, but remember how Jesus paid a debt we could never pay--and imputed His righteousness to us by His grace.  As we look to Jesus, remembering all He has done, does and will do, we can proclaim His love with our lives beyond His return.