The Ancient Refuge
But I will sing of your strength;
I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been to me a fortress
and a refuge in the day of my distress. (Psalm 59:16) [1]
Where do we go when life’s struggles and tragedies press against us? Where can we find refuge? How can we receive divine wisdom in times of perplexing challenges? To our fathers and mothers in the faith it has consistently come from this ancient place of safety: the presence of God. It was God’s felt and tangible nearness that sheltered them and gave them insight for dealing with the obstacles they faced. This place exists in the unseen aspect of the heart where God dwells and God is sensed. This place has often been spoken of analogously like a tower or fortress. In the ancient world, cities had walls and towers to defend the people who lived there. When opposing armies would come to destroy, the people of the area would run for the city. They would shelter inside its defensive walls and prepare for the oncoming siege. The ancients also viewed the presence of God the same way. God’s presence protected them and helped them persevere through life’s storms. It was a “secret place” to take cover in [2].
David wrote extensively about this place. He was a man who had to live in this refuge with God to simply endure what he faced. He wandered in the wilderness both literally and figuratively. The wilderness teaches us a lot about Who God is. When there is nothing else but Him, we discover where our life truly comes from. Arid and dry places do this for us. A thirsty deer panting for water after journeying through the wilderness appreciates a cool stream all the more. A deer living by a lake, maybe not so much. David let the desert teach him who his God was. I’m positive he didn’t want the lesson, but sometimes we don’t have a choice. But in a place with seemingly no life, real and vital spiritual life can flourish. This is a paradox of Christian faith. In seasons of lack we can gain more than we ever imagined. The wilderness continues to be the great disciple maker throughout church history. It is the end of relying on our own strength to survive and causes us to depend on God Himself. We are the hungriest for Him when there is nothing else to eat.
We can see parallels in our own life to David’s life as we read the Bible. However, it must be noted that as we read our own situation into the scriptures, we must keep the context of David’s particular situation in our minds. He was literally hunted throughout the wilderness by Saul and his men who sought his death [3]. David was not writing mere spiritual allegory here; his life was truly threatened. Suffering may be somewhat subjective, but it hurts anyone regardless of the severity. David truly suffered, much like Christ. Jesus was crucified for being Himself, a threat to the religious and political establishment. David was hunted out of envy by a jealous king. At the same time David’s ancient Hebrew worldview could perceive more was going on than merely Saul and his rage at work. There was a definite spiritual element to Saul’s hatred (see 1 Samuel 16:14-23). It’s inferred from the above scripture that there is an unseen aggression that is spiritual at its core working against David. The same dark spiritual power also hated Jesus, who in conjunction with human authorities, murdered Him [4]. Both David and Jesus typified the righteous sufferer, the one who was persecuted for being upright in their generation. This persecution transcends their particular lives with its implicit spiritual component. There are commonalties with both of them that we may experience as believers. Likewise in Hebrew culture it was taken for granted that the unseen effects the seen. In our own time the same dynamic is at play. However, both David’s and Christ’s refuge through all of this was the place of safety they found in God. As they waited on God, God acted on their behalf [5]. David was eventually crowned king of Israel. Jesus was raised from the dead by The Father and seated next to Him on His throne. The wilderness prepared them for their coronations. What sustained them through their sojourning was the ancient shelter of God’s presence.
Psalm 46 has been a signpost on the way to the ancient refuge. The writer of this Psalm recounts how God has always been his people’s rock and anchor in the chaos of life. In verses 1 through 3 we read:
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
The psalmist is speaking of greater things than personal calamities. He is talking about national catastrophes that rocked his nation to its core. The imagery of the earth shaking, and mountains crumbling is a poetic way of describing desolation and disorder. The sea itself was often an ancient Near Eastern metaphor for fear and chaos, so his stanza of the waters roaring and foaming harkens to this. The psalmist when using these poetic devices is trying to get the ancient reader to see the seriousness of the subject matter. They are faced with destruction and death but nevertheless God is their fortress and tower of safety. This is an eternal testimony to God’s character. The Lord has always been the anchor of the disquieted soul, even in its’ darkest grief. We know this from the testimony of His people throughout the ages as well as that of our own era. As we read on the Psalmist says in verses 4-7:
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
We see in verse 4 that contrasted with the raging seas of verse 3 that there is a river of sustenance in the place of refuge. This stream is a calm, life giving water as opposed to the chaos of the sea. We can see that the meaning for us as modern readers is that this verse speaks of the place in God’s presence that gives life even though there is chaos all around. The good news is that the tower of refuge also has life giving water. We know that to the middle east; water is as valuable as gold. “Streams” in this sense can be a metaphor for God’s Spirit that nourishes us when all other resources are gone. As we said earlier, He is the source of life itself. Sometimes there are famines in the land, and we become very aware that there is only one source of life (see Luke 15). It is God who is both the source of life and is also the fortress that protects it. It is this knowledge that God is with Israel that empowers them to endure. This isn’t just a theological proposition; it is in my view a deep interior knowledge and awareness that God is with them. This type of knowing gives peace and empowerment, propositions cannot do that. The ancients knew that the felt sense of God’s nearness in times of trouble is where the ability to endure comes from. Endurance through personal and national testing is a biblical virtue. We can also note that in response to the rage of the nations, God’s voice protects His people and reduces the earth to “melted wax” (vs. 6). There is a voice of protection that goes forth from God and acts as the defender. This first voice of God in Psalm 46 is contrasted with the more famous second voice in verse 10 that says “Be still and know that I am God.” (We will look more into this below). As the Psalm continues into verses 8-11 it says:
Come, behold the works of the LORD,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
The effects of the voice that shatters in verse 6 is in reality shattering the devices of war and bloodshed. The heart of God is revealed partially in this, He desires to cease enmity and division. Truth be told, only the voice of God can really do this. As people we tend to have an imperfect and flawed sense of justice. God cannot do anything but perfect justice. It’s His very voice that creates and carries perfect justice out. This also isn’t exclusively talking about the final justice at the end. It is talking about an immediate justice, a defense of God’s people.
There is a tension between the fulfillment of God’s justice on Israel’s persecutors and the promise of it given. There is uncertainty as the psalmist looks and sees what is happening to his nation. The imagery is so intense that the very creation seems to break apart around him. Yet there is a voice calming him and challenging him to enter the place of safety: the still and calm voice of God. This calm voice desires “stillness”, of letting go like a soldier dropping a sword. This is what the Hebrew is implying in the verse. The imagery is seeming to tell us that in order to be still we must stop trying to find the refuge in our own powers to defend ourselves, or to even come up with an answer in such overwhelming opposition. We drop the sword and know He is God. “To know”: meaning a personal and experiential knowledge. The text is challenging us to drop it all and let Him speak to us. This comes with bringing our minds to the awareness of The Spirit by directing our affections and thoughts towards Him. Here we can know Him, even if the earth is shattering around us. This is intimate prayer at its most life giving. I would guess that the psalmist was probably reassured of God’s protection as he was being still. This is where the psalmist found the strength to endure. This gentle of voice gave him hope. However, it was not a self- contained hope, it was a hope inspired by the strength of God Himself.
In our own day as I write this in 2020, the world shakes and seemingly breaks apart. The ability to endure and find the reassurance of God’s nearness is in this ancient fortress of His presence. It is our hope and our calling. The church must find God’s wisdom in this hour. It will not come from conventional thinking. It will come from the still, small voice of our God. This has sustained us so long, 2,000 years in fact! Why are we trying to figure out the answers somewhere else? The programs have failed, the growth charts are useless. What has endured throughout the ages? What will endure perpetually? This blog is seeking to recover the “ancient paths”. Sometimes I laugh at myself. I think I’ve discovered something new, but it was always there, it was just covered up by my own neglect. I let the path get overgrown and almost lost in the underbrush. If we do not recover the paths that we forgot, we will not rise to our calling as bringers of peace. Psalm 46 seems to tell us that God doesn’t enjoy strife and violence. In fact His justice exists to destroy implements of war and enslavement (vs. 9). There is another way beyond partisan bickering and interests. There is a goal beyond the kingdoms of this world and how they operate in their fallenness. It is the renewal of creation by The King Himself. We are agents of this change. We need to find the words and the will to do His good pleasure. It doesn’t matter who is in power or who gets elected. The still small voice will direct us to do righteous and just deeds. Will we listen though? Can we be still and know Him? The future of the church is at stake. Will we go back into the wilderness to find Him and ourselves again? We are already there. We must ask where our refuge is. There will be no renewal without it…
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