True all the way down
5 Every word of God proves true;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Proverbs 30:5
When you look for comfort, when you look for refuge - to where - or whom - do you turn?
The Christian ought always to look to God. As the Psalmist says, “O LORD my God, in you do I take refuge” (Psalm 7:1). But what does that look like? Hiding inside the church when bad things happen? Praying for a miraculous removal of bad circumstances?
Well, I can imagine a circumstance when you might need to shelter in a church building, and there is nothing wrong with asking the Lord to remove a particular difficulty from you. But the image in Proverbs 30:5, of God being a shield or protector to those who take refuge in him, comes directly after these words: every word of God proves true. He looks to the word of God as a place or refuge and strength.
Do you look to the word of God as a source of refuge? What could it mean for God’s word to be your refuge? Here are three ways the Bible acts as a refuge when we hear, read, and meditate upon its words:
God’s word assures us of God’s care. When things are bad, we need to know that there is someone who cares - someone who is mindful of us, our circumstances, even our tears (Psalm 8:4; 56:8; Hebrews 4:14-16).
God’s word assures of God’s power to save. The Bible is full of stories that recount the power of God to save - consider the Exodus, the triumph of Gideon’s army, Jonathan and his armor bearer initiating a great victory, David and Goliath, Daniel being delivered from the lions, the disciples being delivered from the storm on the sea of Galilee, Christ’s triumph over the grave. Then added to these narrative stories are the promises that the same God is at work in the lives of those who now trust Jesus (Romans 8:11).
God’s word re-orients our timeline. We want God to save, and we want him to save now. In fact, let’s be honest, we’d really prefer if he’d done so yesterday. But God is working on a different time-scale than we are. Peter reminds his readers that “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). If we have confidence that in him all things will be worked together for the good of his children (Romans 8:28), then we can learn to be patient in affliction and bear up under the genuine difficulties of the trials in this life (Romans 12:12, 2 Corinthians 4:17).
All of this is to say, God’s word grounds us in reality. Because every word of God proves true, we can count on the veracity and dependability of what it teaches. This is what we mean when we describe the Bible as inerrant (it contains no errors, mistakes, or falsehoods) and infallible (it will never fail - putting its meaning into practice always pays off). So regardless of the storms which now surround you, no matter what difficulty you are staggering through or bending beneath, remember that in God’s word you have a connection to eternal reality. Your emotions may tell you all is lost, and there is no hope. But run to the word of God: take refuge in him.
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