Our Real Refuge

As one of the greatest characters in cinematic history would say, “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get.”

That, friends, is true. Life is a series of ups and downs, good and bad, happy and sad. Life is, at times, a joy; other times, it’s drudgery and sorrow and heartache.

“With a little help from John Newton, we can summarize the overall message of Psalm 31: The LORD can be trusted to preserve His servants through many ‘dangers, toils, and snares’—and disasters, troubles, fears, aggravations, and assaults.” -DRD

“Life is like a box of chocolate...” this is true enough.

But for the believer, for the Christian, for the one who belongs to the LORD, as uncertain as this life is, we know exactly what to expect from the LORD.

We can trust Him and hide ourselves in Him, no matter what we face, whatever we might face; He is our real refuge, an ever present help in times of trouble (see Psalm 46).

If you have your Bibles (and I hope you do), please turn with me to Psalm 31. Keep your Bibles open as we explore David’s psalm together this morning.

This is how David begins this psalm, addressing the One who is his refuge and shelter:

Psalm 31:1–8 NIV

1 In you, Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness. 2 Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me. 3 Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me. 4 Keep me free from the trap that is set for me, for you are my refuge. 5 Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, Lord, my faithful God. 6 I hate those who cling to worthless idols; as for me, I trust in the Lord. 7 I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul. 8 You have not given me into the hands of the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.

God is our Real Refuge (vv. 1-8)…

These opening verses are an expression of David’s confidence in the LORD. David expresses some needs here, as I’m sure you noticed as we read.

David has some very real needs and makes some very direct appeals to the LORD. He need deliverance and asks for deliverance. He wants the LORD to listen to him and asks for that. He needs rescuing and begs the LORD to come quickly to rescue him. David believes that there is a trap set for him and is asking the LORD to keep him free from it.

Even in his need and in his appeal to the LORD, there’s a tone of confidence. Why? How did David get to this point of confidence in the LORD outweighing his neediness?

I believe David’s confidence comes from how the LORD has dealt with him thus far. David knows the LORD well enough and knows enough about how the LORD operates to be confident in Him.

Four times in the NIV translation of Psalm 31, David uses the word refuge. Three times in these first four verses, we read the word refuge.

Verse 1: In you, LORD, I have taken refuge...

Verse 2: Be my rock of refuge

Verse 4: You are my refuge

Beyond the usage of that particular word—refuge—we find the idea of “God as refuge” throughout.

Verse 2: be…a strong fortress to save me

Verse 3: Since you are my rock and my fortress

David is confident in the LORD as the one place He’s safe, the One to look to for safety.

The LORD is, I think David would say, “Our Real Refuge.”

Terrie Johnson, my mother-in-law (a very special lady), is absolutely terrified of storms. Terrified. Irrationally terrified. She’ll admit it. One of the first things she did when she moved here to Rich Hill was buy a storm shelter. Not a bad idea if you’re afraid of storms.

For about 5 years, she lived in an apartment and felt safe from storms in her bathtub (probably the safest spot in her apartment). But, for whatever irrational reason, the bathtub in her house won’t suffice.

Before she lived in the apartment complex, her house in Olathe had a basement where she’d hide herself during the stormy season. That made sense.

What didn’t make any sense were the bungee-cords. There in her basement, she felt compelled to use a series of bungee cords to secure her dog kennels to the wooden shelves (as if that somehow was going to prevent, well, anything). But there they were.

Currently, in her house here in Rich Hill, she will sometimes sleep in the bottom bunk in her guest room, believing she’s safer there than in her own bed because she has the top bunk above her.

I don’t have the heart to tell her that I assembled those bunk beds and she’s likely less safe there than she is, well, anywhere else in her house.

Here’s the truth: Terrie’s idea of shelter from a literal storm isn’t always an actual place of shelter; most aren’t a real refuge from anything.

Now, I’m not here to poke fun at my mother-in-law. Though I’m not not here to poke fun at my mother-in-law…

What I’m saying is this: We all place our trust in a lot of things to keep us safe that aren’t refuges in reality.

A lot of what we trust gives a sense of security, but it’s always a false sense: “As long as I have enough money, if I have my health, if I have these relationships, as long as I have my job, if I can put just one more bungee cord on this, I’ll be good. Safe. Secure. Protected.”

The Bible tells us our sense of security is entirely dependent upon the source of our security.

If our sense of security is tied to/with bungee cords, or mutual funds and bank accounts, or horizontal relationships, we’re in a precarious position.

If, however, our sense of security is situated in our Savior, we’re set.

This is what David has learned to do. He’s learned the LORD is his Real Refuge and he’s learned to trust Him.

David makes a contrast between the LORD and worthless idols. He refers to the LORD as my faithful God (v. 5). That is, the LORD is the God of truth.

He is Truth, and the worthless idols, the false gods are full of empty lies.

He is the God of Truth. That is, He is the Real God; the only God in reality.

The LORD is the Real God: the Real God who has really redeemed David (a thousand times over); the Real God who has really redeemed God’s people from real trouble (a thousand times over, and then some).

He alone is our real refuge. Verses 19-20 of this psalm say that we who take refuge in Him are sheltered in His presence; He hides us from all human schemes.

Verses 7-8 express that the Real God loves us and sees us and knows us; He protects us and stabilizes us—He sets [our] feet in a spacious place.

David is dealing with some real heavy stuff; but he has the Real God who can really deal with all of it. The Real God, the real refuge in whom he (and we) can hide and trust.

Psalm 31:9–13 NIV

9 Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief. 10 My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak. 11 Because of all my enemies, I am the utter contempt of my neighbors and an object of dread to my closest friends— those who see me on the street flee from me. 12 I am forgotten as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery. 13 For I hear many whispering, “Terror on every side!” They conspire against me and plot to take my life.

God is our Real Refuge (vv. 1-8) in Times of Distress (vv. 9-13)

With all the confidence he can muster, and with appropriate confidence in the true and faithful God, David appeals to the LORD to be merciful.

Merciful. The LORD has mercy to meet and exceed David’s distress. This, David knows down deep in the depths of his soul. He certain of the LORD’s mercy for him. And it’s beautiful.

David is in distress: his eyes, his soul and body, his life, his years, his strength, his bones—he feels it everywhere.

He’s in distress: his enemies have isolated him from his neighbors, his closest friends seem allergic to him, passersby avoid him. David’s been forgotten; he’s broken. He hears people whispering about him. People are making plans to kill him.

That’s “a horrid chunk of distress—blatant, nasty, vicious. It doesn’t get much worse.”

David lets his distress show. He’s real honest. It’s raw and unfiltered. This is part of David’s prayer. This is what he tells to the LORD.

We get to eavesdrop on David’s prayer.

Here is David’s trouble in all its awfulness. He’s putting it all out there to the God who is his refuge, even in times of very real, very frightening, very sad moments.

He has the freedom to give to God a full, unedited description of it all. How privileged David is—and how privileged we are—to be able to pour out our souls before the LORD: our real refuge in times of distress.

After all that honest description and telling of his horrifying distress, David turns to the LORD. I imagine through tears and a catch in his throat, he proclaims:

Psalm 31:14–18 NIV

14 But I trust in you, Lord; I say, “You are my God.” 15 My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies, from those who pursue me. 16 Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love. 17 Let me not be put to shame, Lord, for I have cried out to you; but let the wicked be put to shame and be silent in the realm of the dead. 18 Let their lying lips be silenced, for with pride and contempt they speak arrogantly against the righteous.

We Trust Him in the Details of Life (vv. 14-18)…

This is David’s response to the devastating distress he has faced. This is, one commentator has said, “a sort of when-everything-falls-apart-what-can-you-do section.”

I just love verse 14. After everything he just recounted, David comes to this point. As he’s praying or singing or writing this, he lists everything he’s facing, and then says, “You know what? All that aside, I trust in you, LORD. You are my God.”

That gives me chills. I want that kind of trust. I want the faith that says “When everything falls apart, I will trust in the LORD my God.”

This is David clinging to the covenant. LORD = Yahweh, the personal, covenant God who made promises to Abraham (and ultimately to us). To say, “You are my God” is to take hold of the words that the LORD spoke when He made His covenant. When the LORD made His covenant, He said: “I will be your God.”

“What does this mean? It means that God is saying to Abraham, ‘I will be for you. I will exist for you. I will exercise my God-ness for you. I will be committed to you.’ There is no way that can be improved upon! There is no more glorious promise...” -Donald Macleod

Only because the LORD Yahweh says to us, “I will be your God,” can we say, “You are my God.” And anytime we say, “You are my God,” we are taking hold of His covenant promises.

We, like David, can trust the LORD in the details of life because [our] times are in [His] hands.

When David speaks of times, he’s not merely speaking about his lifespan, but all the circumstances that come rushing at him.

My good friend John drew my attention to the plural form “times” and says that David uses it to “mark the variety of casualties by which the life of man is usually harassed.”

That includes this time described in verses 9-13. My times are in your hand is about the most trusting, faithful, confident sentence David (or we) can utter.

David says, “My times are in your hands,” and immediately says, “deliver me from the hands of my enemies, from those who pursue me.”

Precisely because my times are in His hand can that hand deliver me from the hands of our enemies.

All the details of our lives are in His hand. Every one of them. We trust a real God who holds our times in His hand! That, for me, is among the most encouraging thoughts there is. Don’t be troubled by that truth; be comforted.

David trusts the LORD will deliver and save, to smile on him and shower him with His unfailing love. David trusts the LORD to take care of the wicked, to silence them as they speak arrogantly against the righteous. David looks to the LORD for grace and for justice—and trust Him to mete it out as He sees fit.

It’s a hearty trust in the LORD that gets David through His distress; a trust in the details of life, no matter what those details may be.

Psalm 31:19–20 NIV

19 How abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you, that you bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you. 20 In the shelter of your presence you hide them from all human intrigues; you keep them safe in your dwelling from accusing tongues.

We Trust Him in the Details of Life (vv. 14-18) and Look to Him for Good Things (vv. 19-20)

The goodness of the LORD is stored up for His people—those who fear Him—and He bestows these good things.

Good things from the LORD.

James, the brother of Jesus tells us that “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights...”

There are a million “good things” we receive from the LORD; primarily here, David seems to be focused on the protection, the refuge, the safety the LORD gives to His people.

But I think David’s also considering all the “good things” the LORD has for His people that we can’t begin to imagine. He has secret treasures of goodness—entire storehouses—you aren’t even aware of, hidden away, ready for use on your behalf.

When the world around us is crumbling, when our enemies (and maybe even our friends) want bad things for us, when evil befalls us, we have this steadfast assurance that God has “good things” in store for us.

Abundant. Good. Things. He does not leave us on our own to figure it out. We aren’t left down in the pit. He lifts us up and gives us good things. He is our protection and our provision.

Psalm 31:21–24 NIV

21 Praise be to the Lord, for he showed me the wonders of his love when I was in a city under siege. 22 In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from your sight!” Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help. 23 Love the Lord, all his faithful people! The Lord preserves those who are true to him, but the proud he pays back in full. 24 Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.

Praise Him (vv. 21-22)…

David’s response to the LORD as refuge is to praise. That’s something we have come to expect from the psalms, but we can’t just shrug our shoulders at it. Hear it. Listen to it. Think about.

Think about what David has just said he’s going through. In this one prayer he’s outlined his distress, but he turns to praise. The wonders of God’s love shown to him are more worthy of David’s focus than his distress.

The LORD has heard David’s cry for mercy and help. And He has been a Real Refuge for David, safety and protection and good things.

Praise Him.

Praise Him (vv. 21-22), Love Him (v. 23)…

Verse 23 is an imperative. A command. A demand on us: Love the LORD, all His faithful people!

If you know the LORD Yahweh and have tasted His love and care and protection, what should you do with Him? Love Him!

This is ground-level, first commandment stuff.

There is a story of a pastor/missionary speaking with a lady at the airline desk in Tokyo, Japan. She spoke Mandarin, Japanese, and English; obviously very educated.

The pastor asked her if she was a Christian. She said she had heard about Jesus and knew Christians had a sacred book called the Bible, but that she was a Buddhist.

The pastor then asked her if she loved Buddha. The idea astounded her. “Love? I never thought about love going along with religion.”

David commands us: Love the LORD, all His faithful people!

To love the LORD is what it means to be a Christian. We love because He first loved us. Love is our proper response to the One who made us and keeps us, to the One who sought us and bought us with the redeeming blood of Jesus’ Christ.

Praise Him (vv. 21-22), Love Him (v. 23), and Hope in Him (v. 24)

For all the LORD’s people who would read this prayer or sing this psalm, David addresses and encourages them. He tells his readers to be strong and take heart.

That nice. “Thanks, David.”

But that is more than advice—be strong and take heart. It’s tied to the final thought: all you who hope in the LORD.

You see, those who hope in the LORD aren’t wishing. They aren’t crossing their fingers. They aren’t buying more bungee cords.

Those who hope in the LORD are absolutely, 110% certain that the LORD will strengthen them and will keep them safe, secure; that He will be their refuge.

Hope in the LORD is rock-solid assurance. Unshakable confidence.

You might have caught it as we read the first few verses of this psalm. There’s something from this psalm that Jesus quoted.

These are the last words of Jesus from the cross:

Luke 23:44–46 NIV

44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Jesus wasn’t expressing despair. Rather, Jesus was, with deep confidence in His Father, calling to the One who redeems and delivers.

Psalm 31:5 NIV

5 Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, Lord, my faithful God.

Jesus was expressing His trust in the faithfulness and goodness of His Heavenly Father. Unshakable confidence in the LORD.

Unshakable confidence in the LORD in times of distress and in the details of life.

What more do we need?