God is my Refuge

Last Sunday, Nathan had a revelatory thought about God as our refuge:

He saw God's castle, a fortress well protected with huge stone walls that nothing can breach.  God is asking us to join Him there in safety and peace.  Instead we insist on running around the outside of the castle, still in His presence, but not within His safety so we are continually getting beaten and bruised.  We need to take the action of stepping into His refuge in order to benefit from His protection.

This reminded me of Psalm 27:

The Lord is my light and my salvation-
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life-
of whom shall I be afraid?
When the wicked advance against me
to devour me,
it is my enemies and my foes
who will stumble and fall.
Though and army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then I will be confident.

One thing I ask from the Lord,
and I shall seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord
all the days of me life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and seek Him in His temple.
For in the day of trouble
He will keep me safe in His dwelling;
He will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.
Then my head will be exalted
above the the enemies who surround me;
at His tabernacle I will sacrifice with
shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the Lord.

This is a wonderful promise of God's protection, but it begs a question in my mind.  What do I do to dwell in His house?  What do I need to do to say within the walls of His protection?

Hear my voice when I call Lord,
be merciful to me and answer me.
My heart says of You "Seek His face!"
Your face, Lord, I will seek.
Do not hide your servant away in anger,
you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
God my Savior.
Though my father and mother forsake me,
the Lord will recieve me.
Teach me your way, Lord,
Lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.
Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
spouting malicious accusations.

I remain confident of this,
I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord,
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord.

I always found this an interesting second half of this psalm since it starts so confident. There is something in the desperation of David in this second half that for the first time ties this whole psalm together for me.  I think that David was given a revelation of God's refuge, but then saw what could happen to Him outside of the fortress.  He knew that in order to be in God's protection he needed to be in the presence of God.  So David is suddenly like "Oh crap, God I need your presence all the time, look at all me enemies, be my help like you've been before, I can't take a chance being apart from You God, please stay with me."  And then at the end, it's like He's reminding himself of what He knows.  "Don't worry I know the nature of God, in His time I will see His goodness here on this earth."

So don't worry, be strong and take heart.  Wait on Him and He will come.  Trust in His fortress, it will not fail.  In His presence you will find peace from your enemies.