This week's Theme: Enthroned Above
Day 1: A Very Present Help
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1 - NKJV).
What’s the difference between refuge and strength? A refuge is a place to hide when you haven’t any strength, and strength is personal. Refuge is...outside of you. God is our external refuge into which we can run. What time I am afraid, I will trust in the Lord (Psalm 56:3 - KJV). The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runneth into it and is safe (Proverbs 18:10 -KJV).
Now, the Bible teaches not only that God gives us strength, but that God is our strength... You see everywhere...what God gives to us. You just turn over in the catalogs...and you’ll find books on what God has done for me and what God has given to me and what God promises to give me and what God promises to do for me, but always, we’ve got God on the outside. Always God is the refuge into which we can all rush when we’re in trouble.
But while that is true, that’s not enough true. It’s true, but it isn’t all the truth, is a better way to say it. There’s something else. And it is, that God becomes to us, not only a...place of refuge...but a subjective strength. And he does not say that God gives me strength. It says that God is my strength, which is something else altogether. So, we have this wonderful line here. God is. God is our refuge. God is our strength.
~ A. W. Tozer ~ God is Our Refuge and Strength ~ December 15, 1956
I walk today in the Christian way,
Though dangers I may see;
I will not fear for the Lord is near,
And He will care for me.
Refrain:
No matter what happens, He will care for me,
He will care for me, He will care for me;
And His mighty hand will enable me to stand,
No matter what happens to me.
No test I face but sufficient grace
Is ready for my need;
When sorrows rise to obscure my skies,
He proves a friend indeed.
He will not fail in the strongest gale
That stormy winds can blow;
And in His grace is a hiding place
Unknown to any foe.
I trust in Him though disasters grim
Before me seem to be;
He calms my fears, and He dries my tears,
And faithful is to me.
~ Charles W. Naylor ~ 1919
