While on staff at my home church in Corpus Christi, we started an outreach called “H²O to Go.”  In the hot, Texas summer months we’d take ice cold bottles of water to the local bus stops, handing them out to anyone there. 

Some people refused the water, making a point to stay far away from us. Others, readily accepted the water, tore off the top, and started chugging the water for some relief from the blazing heat. These same people would come running when our vehicles pulled up each week. One bus driver hung an empty bottle behind his driver’s seat. Another person took several bottles of water throughout the summer, making what seemed a shrine of unopened water bottles. 

Last week, I talked about God being our shelter from our storms.  As I’ve continued to look at passages related to shelter, storm, and refuge, I was reminded of something. God is our refuge, but we have to seek or take the refuge He provides, just as the water we went to offer only offered relief from the summer heat for those who willingly took the water and drank it.

In fact, God has lavished us with every spiritual blessing and all that we need, but we have to receive and open His gifts. Look at what the Psalms say about choosing to take refuge in Him:

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh the joys, of those who take refuge in Him ( Psalm 34:8 NLT).

• This is where I realized it is a choice and an act of faith to take the refuge He provides. 

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble  (Psalm 46:1).

• This is where I asked myself, “Will I let Him help or will I turn to people, circumstances, and other things first?”

He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God and I trust Him  (Psalm 91:2 NLT).

• Here I asked myself, “Where am I really putting my trust? In Him or myself, others, a bank account, insurance plan, or something else? If I lost all I had, would I still trust Him and like Job say, “Though the Lord slay me, yet will I trust Him.”?

If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you (Psalm 91:9 NLT).

• If you make the Lord your refuge is another reminder that it is a choice.

As I thought about taking refuge, I thought about so many other passages in the Bible where we are reminded of all we are given. We simply need to receive it. The following came to mind:

·      I stand at the door and knock;

·     Believe and receive;

·     Open your mouth and I will fill it;

·     Turn to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest;

·     Take my yolk up on you for my burden is easy and my yolk is light;

·     Come, follow me.

Just as the Israelites in the desert needed to look up at the snake on the pole to be healed, we need to look up to our Father for all the good gifts He longs to lavish upon us. I don’t know what storm you may be in today, but lift your eyes to Him. Take your refuge in Him and then go be a refuge to others.