Jun P. Espina 2 min read
Updated on February 22nd, 2020
What is life without the “refuge and strength” of God? Imagine the confidence of a very wealthy man who said he had—for his own soul—a barn of grains for his secure future. How fearful would it be when the storms of life came; when God told him “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.” (Luke 12:20) We are like explorers to the unknown islands of this sojourn. Every morning our self-confidence shines as the sun rises knowing we woke up alive and well. But when the night comes we locked up our doors and slept with a bottle of water by our side and a little night lamp to keep us in touch with reality as we wake up. Our sense of confidence crumbles as we lay on our bed and reflect on the possibility of death in our sleep. Sick people and the elderly have always this feel of not seeing another day. We need God for our refuge and strength. He created the riddle of the night to make us God-dependent; to send away our arrogance and pride of life. Wrote the psalmist: “He raises the poor from the dust And lifts the needy from the ash heap.” (Ps. 113:7) We need Him. “God is our refuge and strength,” reads Psalm 46:1, “a very present help in trouble.”
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1)
God is our refuge and strength; there is no other. For outside of Him is sinking sand. They whose hope is in their wealth trust upon a cruel master. King Solomon of old was the richest man in his time. In his closing years, however, he said: all is vanity, a chasing after the wind.
For what can money do to a dying man? Nothing—nothing more than a good burial!
God is Our Refuge and Strength
God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;
Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Psalm 46:1-3
I have an illustration. A poor woman was mumbling the word “…sus” for hours in her pain—the only syllable she could make for the word “Jesus”. Afterward, she died—as she was praying to our dear Lord—with the mark of joy upon her lips: for she died smiling.
She died smiling!
It was true. It happened when my brother-in-law’s wife died of kidney failure. God is our refuge and strength—anytime, anywhere—“ always ready to help in trouble”!
This woman, however, was a born-again Christian. Psalm 46:1 does not apply to all. In his fear and desperation, King Saul consulted a medium (cf. 1 Sam 28) instead of taking refuge in God. We, born again Christians, always remember our Lord Jesus as we dwell “in the shelter of the Most High,” and “Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” (Ps. 91:1)
How sweet is it to depend
Upon a loving God
Who is forever a Friend
Who keeps us in His love.
