God is Your Refuge

Deuteronomy 33
v.26 There is no one like the God of Israel. He rides across the heavens to help you, across the skies in majestic splendor.
v.27 The eternal God is your refuge, and His everlasting arms are under you.

Sheltering arms express the loving protection of God's spirit. Human beings, in their troubles and difficulties, need nothing so much as a refuge, a place to relax where they can lay down their burdens and get relief from cares.

Say to yourself: "God is my refuge." Say it until its truth sinks into your very soul. Say it until you know it and are sure of it. Nothing can seriously upset you or make you afraid, if God is truly your refuge.

Psalm 52
v.8 But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever.
v.9 I will praise You forever for what You have done; in Your name I will hope, for Your name is good. I will praise You in the presence of Your saints.

Precious and loving Savior, You who give us rest, be near us, strengthen us, comfort us in the night when sleep eludes us, in the day when concerns assail us, wrap Your arms around us. Help us catch a glimpse of Your reality in which Your sufficiency has already met our needs. Help us lay down the burdens which we so easily assume but find such difficulty in releasing. Strengthen us, loving God, not for bearing burdens You have not given us, but in order to give You the praise which is our reasonable and worthwhile service. Help us to find our way each day, each hour to the refuge You have made for us, the sweetly-scented garden You have cultivated for us where fear has no place and peace and comfort are balms to our soul. Thank You, caring Redeemer, that we can feel deeply secure in the haven of Your spirit and have hope once again. In Your name, amen.

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