PSALM 16 DIVINE REFUGEES

Written by , Rector of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia
 

¹Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge.
² I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”
³ As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.
⁴ The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips.
⁵ LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.
⁶ The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.
⁷ I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.
⁸ I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
⁹ Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure,
¹⁰ because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
¹¹ You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

God protects, provides and “prospers” those who turn to him in faith.

It is God’s desire that we become refugees in this life. Just as refugees in war-torn areas of the world seek safety in another country from the violence in their own, we are to seek God and his kingdom in order to find protection from the dangers of the lawlessness of humankind. Refugees give up most everything upon which they had preciously based their security, family, property, and possessions, in order to find protection from the violence that has overtaken them. That willingness to rely exclusively upon God for our security is the ticket to finding true refuge in him.

But unlike the political refugees in this world, who are herded into squalid camps where life tends toward neglectful incarceration, the people of God enter into a kingdom where the King provides good things, “pleasant places,” a “delightful inheritance,” “counsel,” and “instruction,” all according to his eternal plan for us. Thus we are provided with the security, not of material things, but of an eternal purpose, and therefore, meaning.

God will not only give us purpose, but will “prosper” us in that purpose. By his ever present grace he will make the “path of life” known to us and lead us along the way.

As we seek God as our refuge, let us not be driven primarily by the desire to escape the dangers of the world, but rather may we be motivated by the love, mercy and faithfulness of God and the desire to be his.

Your promises, O God, are wonderful, but to be in your presence is what I seek. Increase in me a hunger to be in your kingdom in this life and to fulfill the plan you have eternally had for me. May I come to know the security that comes only from a faith relationship with you. Amen.