Your Refuge and Fortress

What are you saying of the Lord today? If you are saying He gave you the trouble you are presently in or an illness to teach you humility, it’s time to change what you believe about Him. If you really believe that God is the author of your problems, would you really be running to Him for help?

My friend, let’s be like the psalmist who declared, “I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust’.”

The Hebrew word for “refuge,” machaceh, refers to a shelter from storms and danger. This shelter is like the bunkers that many Jews have in their homes in Israel today to shelter them from small-scale attacks. In the figurative sense, when you say the Lord is your machaceh, you are also declaring that He is your place of hope.

The Lord is also your fortress. In Hebrew, the word used for “fortress” is matsuwd. It refers to a castle or stronghold, a place of defense and protection against large-scale attacks. Isn’t that a beautiful picture? Whatever you might be going through right now, you can declare that the Lord is your refuge and your fortress—your protection in both small as well as big attacks.

Perhaps you have not been saying that God is behind your troubles. Perhaps you are not saying anything about the Lord at all. Perhaps God seems far away and you feel cut off from Him.

If that is you, can I encourage you to take a break today from whatever you have on your busy to-do list, and simply take time to dwell in His sweet presence? God is not distant; sometimes we are just too distracted to hear His voice or sense His loving presence.

Take a moment and see yourself in His secret place. Abide under His shadow. Savor His favor. Receive His wisdom. And find rest for your troubled soul. The feeling of being distant from God is only a feeling, nothing more. He has promised in His Word that He will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5).

Our Lord Jesus paid for you to have access to God’s constant presence. At the cross, He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” when God turned His back on Him (Matt. 27:46). He took our place and was rejected by God when He carried our sins so that today, we can take His place of being in the constant presence of the Father and take Him as our refuge and fortress.

This devotional is taken from the book The Prayer of Protection Devotional—Daily Strategies for Living Fearlessly in Dangerous Times.