God is my refuge

There is no way out of the human dilemma. Upon that realisation, a person does not lie down in weakness, but in absolute exhaustion. It is just a reality that unless God will be a refuge for us, then there is no way out, death and hell have the final victory. In every crisis of life, the consistent teaching of our Lord is that God is our refuge.

God is our refuge and strength
an ever-present help in times of trouble
Therefore we will not fear
though the earthquake come
and the mountains fall into the sea
though the oceans rage and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging
Be Still And Know That I Am God - Psalm 46

Until we are hit by sorrow, tragedy, disaster, a refuge is the last thing we seek for God to be.

Atheists continually see Christianity as being for the weak.

And that's true.

However, there is a huge difference between the weakness of refusing to think, as it is with atheists, and the weakness that comes from facing facts as they really are.

. The former is a drowning man, out of pride refusing to grasp the hand offering to rescue.
. The latter is a drowning man reaching for the offered hand out of a desire to survive.

I ask you. Which is the fool?
. The one that admits weakness and accepts help? OR
. The one who dies because he refuses to admit his weakness?

Connecting with God comes only through our admission of powerlessness to save ourselves. It is this aspect of God which is at the basis of redemption. When we get convicted of our sin (which is the most direct way of recognising the human dilemma) we know that we cannot carry the burden of our dilemma. We also know that God cannot just up and forgive us without our first repenting or our condition. If God did just forgive anyone and everyone, it would mean that God is not just. If we are forgiven without repenting (which means to turn around and go the other direction) if we are forgiven without being personally altered, then that forgiveness is a sign of unmitigated weakness in God. Unless God’s forgiveness brings about an order of holiness and rectitude, forgiveness becomes an abominable, meaningless thing.

This is precisely what atheists want.

As history has shown and as the future will confirm, the human dilemma is too big for us to solve. However, when we cast ourselves unreservedly on God, we will find God to be exactly the kind of refuge we have always been longing for.

We know nothing about redemption or about forgiveness until we recognise and admit that we are enmeshed and entrapped by a personal problem; then we begin to understand why we need to turn to God, and when we do turn to Him He becomes a refuge and a shelter and a complete rest.