Refuge From Fear
Psalm 12:8 The wicked prowl on every side, When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.
There is no better description of the time we live in than what is stated, simply, in the above verse. All that God teaches us to be immoral is not only condoned but celebrated in our popular culture. We are now living in a culture that in many ways has become toxic to human beings. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find others who are safe to trust. In my lifetime, I have seen murder go from rare and often the subject of horror movies to often and too common-place for the horror genre. The taking of human life is no longer abhorrent to our desensitised society but instead, mildly entertaining. Mothers murder their babies in the womb and many consider putting down as one does an animal, our mothers and fathers when they become old and frail. We, as a people, are ceasing to protect the most helpless among us. We are losing the compassion for one another that marks us as human beings and above animals. Kindness and goodness are presently viewed as gullibility and weakness. None of us are safe among our own kind when living in a society with this mindset. This is the same type of spiritual environment which allowed for Hitler and his genocide of the Jews. Truly, we must enter into a delusion of safety to enable ourselves to lay our heads down and sleep at night.
It is not abnormal to view the world we live in as hopeless and desire to escape from it. Sadly, those who are in the world and of it will choose worldly pleasures and develop a sin habit as a vehicle for escape. Materialism,drugs,alcohol,sex, pornography, and gambling, are among the most common; and their promise of escape is a lie, for they only add to that which makes escape a priority. If we are left to continue in this direction, there is no hope for human beings. We as a species will become extinct by our own hand.
Psalm 14:1
The fool has said in his heart,
"There is no God."
They are corrupt,
They have done abominable works,
There is none that does good."
There is no God is a foolish but popular statement today. The most learned among us, those who lead us, are the most likely to utter it. In the sixties, God was pronounced as dead and by the nineties, Europe had entered what is called the post-Christian era. God has been removed from public life and His Laws are no longer honored as the basis for our law. Faith in God is murdered in the hearts of many young people by teachers and professors with an agenda to destroy Judeo/Christian culture. In the sixties, they began this agenda by inciting young people to rebel by using the Viet Nam War and the fear of the draft as a vehicle to create social unrest. Professors, such as Timothy Leary, plied young people with drugs that induced a false spiritual experience and false enlightenment that released the foul spirits that move the world today. Paganism and New Age religions now flourishes in a nation that once, openly and corporately, trusted in God. The truth of Jesus Christ is now heavily suppressed in a nation who's motto of revolution from the king of England was, "No king but King Jesus!"
There are many signs today that portend to the fact that God has delivered our once Christian Nation over to wrath. The first chapter of Romans runs a clear parallel to the decent of America that I have witnessed in my lifetime. This nation which once served as a refuge for those who wanted to worship God according to His Word and not according to government or apostate religious leaders has become, increasingly, uncomfortable for Christian people. We too have sought escape and systematically, over the past three decades, have begun to withdraw from the common culture. We began by first pulling our children from public schools and placing them in parochial schools. As the church became more anemic by those who wished to tailor her to please the world, parents withdrew even further and many now teach their children at home. Home churches and the Internet fill the spiritual void (felt by so many who long for sound, Biblical teaching) created by the leaders of an institutionalised church too consumed by worldly ambitions to accommodate. The one area that we have not retreated from has been politics and though involvement is good, there is no hope in politics. Time spent on political activism would be better invested in fulfilling our true call to activism, that of fulfilling the Great Commission.
Christians continue to flee from public life and with each one that enters retreat, the nation at large grows darker. It is not an abnormal reaction and I too have participated in trying to escape and protect my children from a culture bent upon self-destruction. Sadly, because of our exodus, we have become a subculture and in our frightened state, we have very little affect on the community that surrounds us. Our fear has resulted in our hiding the Light of the world under a basket. By not trusting God to keep us in the midst of evil, we no longer act as a purifying agent in our communities.
Psalm 18:1-3
I will love You, O LORD, my strength.
The LORD is my rock and my fortress
and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my
salvation, my stronghold.
I will call upon the LORD, who is
worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.
Psalm 14:2-3
The LORD looks down from heaven
upon the children of men,
To see if there are any who
Understand, who seek God.
They have together become corrupt;
There is none that does good,
No, not one.
vs.5-6 There they are in great fear,
For God is with the generation of the righteous.
You shame the counsel of the poor,
But the LORD is his refuge.
Fear does not come from God and is not the spirit which should move Christians. Jesus is not an escape hatch from the world, not for us nor our children. When we seek escape in God, we are no better than a drug addict; and more likely, worse when we use God as an addict would use heroin to soothe emotional pain and calm our fears. Even though God does not allow us full escape, He is our refuge. In Christ, we know that the enemy can't destroy us for our lives are hidden in Him. Even if our bodies are destroyed, we will not die. Eternal life is ours in Christ. In Christ, we are emboldened to stand against all that the enemy uses to cause us to fear. In Christ, it is possible to do as Jesus teaches; to be in the world but not of it. God has left us here with an active purpose that can't be accomplished through nonparticipation. He is our fortress in the midst of battle but not a sanctuary for those who have gone AWOL. He is our strength to endure and even overthrow the darkness. He is perfect armor and in Him, we are safe and will not suffer defeat.
Psalm 18:4-7
The pangs of death surrounded me,
And the floods of ungodliness made
me afraid.
The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me,
The snares of death confronted me.
In my distress I called upon the
LORD,
And cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry came before Him, even to
His ears.
Then the earth shook and trembled;
The foundations of the hills also
quaked and were shaken,
Because He was angry.
There is no anger as powerful as that of a parent when their child has been injured. God loves us more than we can imagine, even more than we love our own children. Those who come against us to hurt us will not go unpunished. Though He is angry with the workers of iniquity in the world today, He loves them also. God desires that all come to repentance so that all might be restored to Him as Father. None can hear about Jesus if there is no one preaching His Word. Those who have no hope will never experience true enlightenment if the Light of the World is hidden because of our fear of them. The darkness that now seems near to total will not recede if we hoard Jesus and keep Him all for ourselves.
It is time for those who are in Christ to come out of the closet. Let us open our hearts to Jesus and be empowered through the filling of the Holy Spirit to be bold in our faith. Let us not shrink from the battle that lies before us but instead, seek the sure refuge we have in Jesus that is our stronghold in the very midst of battle.
Christian soldiers, arise! "Even the gates of hell will not prevail against Christ and His church."
There is no better description of the time we live in than what is stated, simply, in the above verse. All that God teaches us to be immoral is not only condoned but celebrated in our popular culture. We are now living in a culture that in many ways has become toxic to human beings. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find others who are safe to trust. In my lifetime, I have seen murder go from rare and often the subject of horror movies to often and too common-place for the horror genre. The taking of human life is no longer abhorrent to our desensitised society but instead, mildly entertaining. Mothers murder their babies in the womb and many consider putting down as one does an animal, our mothers and fathers when they become old and frail. We, as a people, are ceasing to protect the most helpless among us. We are losing the compassion for one another that marks us as human beings and above animals. Kindness and goodness are presently viewed as gullibility and weakness. None of us are safe among our own kind when living in a society with this mindset. This is the same type of spiritual environment which allowed for Hitler and his genocide of the Jews. Truly, we must enter into a delusion of safety to enable ourselves to lay our heads down and sleep at night.
It is not abnormal to view the world we live in as hopeless and desire to escape from it. Sadly, those who are in the world and of it will choose worldly pleasures and develop a sin habit as a vehicle for escape. Materialism,drugs,alcohol,sex, pornography, and gambling, are among the most common; and their promise of escape is a lie, for they only add to that which makes escape a priority. If we are left to continue in this direction, there is no hope for human beings. We as a species will become extinct by our own hand.
Psalm 14:1
The fool has said in his heart,
"There is no God."
They are corrupt,
They have done abominable works,
There is none that does good."
There is no God is a foolish but popular statement today. The most learned among us, those who lead us, are the most likely to utter it. In the sixties, God was pronounced as dead and by the nineties, Europe had entered what is called the post-Christian era. God has been removed from public life and His Laws are no longer honored as the basis for our law. Faith in God is murdered in the hearts of many young people by teachers and professors with an agenda to destroy Judeo/Christian culture. In the sixties, they began this agenda by inciting young people to rebel by using the Viet Nam War and the fear of the draft as a vehicle to create social unrest. Professors, such as Timothy Leary, plied young people with drugs that induced a false spiritual experience and false enlightenment that released the foul spirits that move the world today. Paganism and New Age religions now flourishes in a nation that once, openly and corporately, trusted in God. The truth of Jesus Christ is now heavily suppressed in a nation who's motto of revolution from the king of England was, "No king but King Jesus!"
There are many signs today that portend to the fact that God has delivered our once Christian Nation over to wrath. The first chapter of Romans runs a clear parallel to the decent of America that I have witnessed in my lifetime. This nation which once served as a refuge for those who wanted to worship God according to His Word and not according to government or apostate religious leaders has become, increasingly, uncomfortable for Christian people. We too have sought escape and systematically, over the past three decades, have begun to withdraw from the common culture. We began by first pulling our children from public schools and placing them in parochial schools. As the church became more anemic by those who wished to tailor her to please the world, parents withdrew even further and many now teach their children at home. Home churches and the Internet fill the spiritual void (felt by so many who long for sound, Biblical teaching) created by the leaders of an institutionalised church too consumed by worldly ambitions to accommodate. The one area that we have not retreated from has been politics and though involvement is good, there is no hope in politics. Time spent on political activism would be better invested in fulfilling our true call to activism, that of fulfilling the Great Commission.
Christians continue to flee from public life and with each one that enters retreat, the nation at large grows darker. It is not an abnormal reaction and I too have participated in trying to escape and protect my children from a culture bent upon self-destruction. Sadly, because of our exodus, we have become a subculture and in our frightened state, we have very little affect on the community that surrounds us. Our fear has resulted in our hiding the Light of the world under a basket. By not trusting God to keep us in the midst of evil, we no longer act as a purifying agent in our communities.
Psalm 18:1-3
I will love You, O LORD, my strength.
The LORD is my rock and my fortress
and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my
salvation, my stronghold.
I will call upon the LORD, who is
worthy to be praised;
So shall I be saved from my enemies.
Psalm 14:2-3
The LORD looks down from heaven
upon the children of men,
To see if there are any who
Understand, who seek God.
They have together become corrupt;
There is none that does good,
No, not one.
vs.5-6 There they are in great fear,
For God is with the generation of the righteous.
You shame the counsel of the poor,
But the LORD is his refuge.
Fear does not come from God and is not the spirit which should move Christians. Jesus is not an escape hatch from the world, not for us nor our children. When we seek escape in God, we are no better than a drug addict; and more likely, worse when we use God as an addict would use heroin to soothe emotional pain and calm our fears. Even though God does not allow us full escape, He is our refuge. In Christ, we know that the enemy can't destroy us for our lives are hidden in Him. Even if our bodies are destroyed, we will not die. Eternal life is ours in Christ. In Christ, we are emboldened to stand against all that the enemy uses to cause us to fear. In Christ, it is possible to do as Jesus teaches; to be in the world but not of it. God has left us here with an active purpose that can't be accomplished through nonparticipation. He is our fortress in the midst of battle but not a sanctuary for those who have gone AWOL. He is our strength to endure and even overthrow the darkness. He is perfect armor and in Him, we are safe and will not suffer defeat.
Psalm 18:4-7
The pangs of death surrounded me,
And the floods of ungodliness made
me afraid.
The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me,
The snares of death confronted me.
In my distress I called upon the
LORD,
And cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry came before Him, even to
His ears.
Then the earth shook and trembled;
The foundations of the hills also
quaked and were shaken,
Because He was angry.
There is no anger as powerful as that of a parent when their child has been injured. God loves us more than we can imagine, even more than we love our own children. Those who come against us to hurt us will not go unpunished. Though He is angry with the workers of iniquity in the world today, He loves them also. God desires that all come to repentance so that all might be restored to Him as Father. None can hear about Jesus if there is no one preaching His Word. Those who have no hope will never experience true enlightenment if the Light of the World is hidden because of our fear of them. The darkness that now seems near to total will not recede if we hoard Jesus and keep Him all for ourselves.
It is time for those who are in Christ to come out of the closet. Let us open our hearts to Jesus and be empowered through the filling of the Holy Spirit to be bold in our faith. Let us not shrink from the battle that lies before us but instead, seek the sure refuge we have in Jesus that is our stronghold in the very midst of battle.
Christian soldiers, arise! "Even the gates of hell will not prevail against Christ and His church."
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