The Rock of My Refuge (3)

 

“But Yahweh has been my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.” Psalm 94:22.

 

How does God become our stronghold and the Rock of our refuge?

 

What do you think about the foregoing question? What do you think about its wording?

 

Is it God who “becomes” or is it we who “become”? Yes, I realize this is a manner of speaking, this question of how God becomes our stronghold and rock, but we nevertheless ought to realize that at the heart of the question must be the realization that God is our stronghold and rock precisely because He does not change, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). God in Christ changes us so that our vision and understanding and character and heart and mind are transformed into His image as we enter into Him and as He enters into us – we live in Him and He lives in us.

 

An element of our transformation is discipline and chastisement as His Word works within us and upon us (Heb. 4:9 – 16).

 

“Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O Yah, and whom You teach out of Your law; that you may grant him relief from the days of adversity, until a pit is dug for the wicked.” (Psalm 94:12 – 13).

 

Let’s consider the context of these two verses. The psalmist is distressed at wickedness and oppression and is calling out to God for justice - an element of God’s response to his prayer is discipline. That is, while the psalmist is looking at the wickedness of others, God is looking at the psalmist and is disciplining him and teaching him out of the Word of God. While God is indeed looking at the wickedness of others, and while God will indeed judge the wicked, God the Father is also looking at His sons and daughters and is disciplining them so that they may be granted “relief from the days of adversity” (Ps. 94:13). As Hebrews 12:4 – 11 teaches us, the Father disciplines His children so that they may “share His holiness” and yield “the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

 

The psalmist responds to God’s discipline by saying, “Blessed is the man whom You chasten O Yah, and whom You teach out of Your law…” He (the psalmist) is assured that, “…Yahweh will not abandon His people, nor will He forsake His inheritance.”

 

Our Father disciplines us so that we will not be judged with the wicked, He reminds us that there must be no partnership between righteousness and lawlessness, or fellowship between light and darkness; nor can there be agreement between the temple of God (we are that Temple!) and idols (2 Cor. 6:14 – 7:1).

 

The injustice we see in the world must not be found in us. The wickedness of the present age ought not to be found within the Temple of the Living God. It is the mercy of God which disciplines and convicts and transforms His children – and we are called to rest assured that He corrects us because He loves us, and that He “will not abandon His people.” This is all part of the process by which we come to know God as our stronghold and the Rock of our refuge.

 

Even as we recognize wickedness around us, we are called to pray, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting Way” (Ps. 139:23 – 24).

 

This is akin to realizing that when we pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” that “on earth” ought to begin within my earth – within my heart and mind and soul and body – God’s will and work must begin within me before I look for it in others. Yes, we want God’s will to be done “out there,” but it must begin “in here, in me,” before it begins out there. Am I willing to be the answer to my prayer for His will to be done on earth? Are you?

 

Wickedness can be seductive. Augustine realized that hideous and bloody gladiatorial games had their seduction about them, and while we may recoil at this thought, the truth of Augustine’s observation is borne out with our fascination with violence in its many forms – from sports to video games to television and movies and song lyrics and political rhetoric to news…sadly even within some “Christian” productions. We ought not to be ashamed at being innocent regarding violence and wickedness any more than we should be ashamed at being sober rather than drunk.

 

And let’s remember, we can’t help others if we are drunk.

 

How is our Father’s discipline transforming you into the image of His Son?