“Be gracious to me, O God, be
gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge in You; and in the shadow of Your
wings I will take refuge until destruction passes by” (Psalm 57:1).
What does it mean for a soul to take
refuge?
This is not as mysterious as it might
seem, for our inner person is always being conformed into one image or another,
perhaps even into multiple images, fractured images, unstable images. This
gives the lie to the idea that we are autonomous and can choose our destinies
for ourselves, rather than exalting free will it reminds us that we are either
the slaves of sin or of righteousness, either of life or of death, either of
Christ or of His enemy.
Our souls can live in various places,
they can inhabit “constructs” which cannot be seen, and yet they can be seen.
Our souls can, and most certainly will, worship, and they will be conformed to
the image of what they worship. The images we worship are molds for our souls.
The constructs we worship and live
within can be seen in our behavior, our language, our decisions, how we spend
our time and our resources. Show me your calendar and your bank account and
I’ll show you the images you worship, I’ll paint a picture of your soul. Show
me what you watch, what you listen to, what you read, and I’ll show you your
soul.
Our souls are molded into the image
of what we worship, they are molded into the form of that in which we take
refuge. What our eyes behold, our souls become.
Do our souls take refuge in Jesus Christ?
Or do we take refuge in economic or political or national or racial or ethnic
or social or even religious identity? If our souls take refuge in Jesus, then
they will be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29), if they take refuge
elsewhere, they will bear those other images.
If our eye is single, we will be
filled with light, otherwise we will be filled with darkness and confusion
(Matthew 6:22 – 23).
Ephesians 4:17-19 (J.B. Philipps), “This
is my instruction, then, which I give you from God. Do not live any longer as
the Gentiles live. For they live blindfold in a world of illusion, and cut off
from the life of God through ignorance and insensitiveness. They have stifled
their consciences and then surrendered themselves to sensuality, practising any
form of impurity which lust can suggest.”
Are we not living in a “world of illusion”
when our souls seek refuge in other than Jesus?
I am reminded of a line in The
Valley of Vision to the effect that, “What our souls trust in, from that we
expect happiness.” We can tell where our trust is by the way we react to news…all
is good when the financial markets are up, all is bad when they are down. All
is good when our political party prevails, all is gloom when it fails. This is
illusion, this is living in a false construct, a false refuge. Yet, we offer
our souls to these illusions and allow our souls to bear their image.
Do not Daniel Chapter 2 and Psalm 2
and Hebrews 12:25 – 29 (indeed the entire Bible) teach us that our Father is
bringing the kingdoms and systems of this world to an end? Are we saying to
God, it is all well and good that you are bringing the kingdoms of this world to
an end, and that Your Kingdom will fill the entire earth, but please don’t do
it while I am still here. Do what you want after I am gone.
Are we taking our cues from Christ
and His Word, or from the world? What is molding our souls? It seems to me that
we are being transformed into the image of “man,” of “666” in its myriad forms
as we imbibe media, talking heads, images of leaders from across the spectrum –
I see the effects of this worship as I listen to folks – they are surrendering
their souls to other than Jesus Christ. The fruit of idol worship is anxiety,
vitriol, anger, hatred, callousness; this is contrary to the “peaceable fruit
of righteousness” (James 3:13 – 18).
Let us learn to take refuge in Jesus,
in Him and in Him alone will our souls find their purpose and destiny. Let us
be molded into the image of Jesus, only Jesus, always Jesus, forever Jesus.
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