Summer in the Psalms of Refuge | Psalm 91

Pastoral Resident Ryan Gawrych continues our Summers in the Psalms of Refuge series, preaching from Psalm 91.

Transcript

Finding Refuge in God's Word

Speaker 1 0:03

Hello everyone . This is Pastor Damian . You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City , orlando . At New City we believe all of us need all of Jesus for all of life . For more resources , visit our website at newcityorlandocom . Thanks for listening .

Speaker 1 0:20

Eternal God , the grass withers and the flower fades , but your word will stand forever . Holy Spirit , help us to love and trust your word . Through Jesus Christ , we pray Amen . Today's scripture reading is Psalm 91 . Please remain standing , if you are able .

Speaker 1 0:43

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty . I will say to the Lord , my refuge and my fortress , my God , in whom I trust , for he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence . He will cover you with his pinions and under his wings you will find refuge . His faithfulness is a shield and buckler . You will not fear the terror of the night , nor the arrow that flies by day , nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness , nor the destruction that wastes at noonday . A thousand may fall at your side , ten thousand at your right hand , but it will not come near you . You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked , because you have made the Lord your dwelling place , the Most High , who is my refuge .

Speaker 1 1:38

No evil shall be allowed to befall you , no plague come near your tent , for he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways . On their hands , they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone . You will tread on the lion and the adder , the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot . Because he holds fast to me in love , I will deliver him . I will protect him . Because he holds fast to me in love , I will deliver him . I will protect him because he knows my name . When he calls to me , I will answer him . I will be with him in trouble . I will rescue him and honor him With long life . I will satisfy him and show him my salvation .

Speaker 2 2:23

This is God's word him and show him my salvation . This is God's word . Well , I said something similar last time I preached , but it is . I just got to say it again . It is so good , it's so sweet to be up here and hear your voices just washing over me , and there are plenty of seats up front here . If you guys ever want to move up front , you could do that too . But just , I just want to say I had the thought this is a glimpse Every time . We had the thought this is a glimpse every time we gather Sunday morning . This is a glimpse into your future . I thought that was just . It's amazing . This is a glimpse into our future .

Speaker 2 2:54

Well , a few years back , google unveiled an ad called Dear Sophie . Some of you may remember it , and actually it was more than a few years . It was probably closer to a decade now , which is crazy , but it was an effort . It was an ad that sought to bring some humanity or warmth to this tech company , and the ad was about a father's love for his daughter and the digital scrapbook that he made with the use or help of Google services . So this father would draft a new email with every new life event for his daughter , and it would start something like , dear Sophie today you were scared because you rode your first roller coaster . Dear Sophie , we moved into our first home today and you were so happy . Dear Sophie , today we felt helpless . You spiked a fever and ended up in the hospital .

Speaker 2 3:48

In a similar way , the Psalms are God's heartfelt chronicle of our human experience . They're his scrapbook to us . They're God's messages to his sons and his daughters about what life will be like for us , and even about what life could be like for us , and even about what life could be like for us if we were to make him our refuge . We'll find messages of fear and lament . We'll find messages of happiness and joy and of encouragement and comfort , but they'll all fall under the broader category of wisdom , because they all come from God , and God cares about how we experience this life . More importantly , he cares about how we experience him . So when we come to the Psalms , we find notes from God himself about what life is like , about what he's like . And so this morning , when we come to Psalm 91 , if we were to read it as an entry in God's scrapbook to us , it might read this way Dear son , dear daughter , today you trusted me and you were happy and you were safe .

Speaker 2 5:00

Now , there's not a whole lot that we know about the author of this psalm . If you have your Bibles in front of you , you'll notice that there's no name listed next to the title , and when that happens , scholars usually attribute it to the nearest psalm that preceded it , so in this case , I believe it would be Moses . The Septuagint , which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures , has David listed as the author , but that could just mean that David composed it and added into the list of Psalms . We're not really sure , but regardless of who it originally belonged to , it now belongs to us . This Psalm belongs to you and I , and the one thing that this Psalm makes clear is that no one will ever care for you like God can , which is another way of saying no one will ever care for you like Jesus , and these are words we need to hear because , if we're honest with ourselves , these are words we often have a hard time believing .

Speaker 2 5:58

Now , there are a number of reasons for this . I can think of at least five , but I want to mention two , and the first is that we're pretty good at caring for ourselves . We're pretty good at caring for ourselves . We're creatures who were made for refuge , but who seek refuge in all the wrong places . We acquire things money , jobs , homes , people even and as we gather stuff , what we tell ourselves is that we're secure , that we're safe . Now , stuff isn't bad per se . Homes are good , money's good , we need these things to live , but we're really good at making stuff everything . Actually , jesus says in Luke's gospel that unless you're willing to give up your stuff , you don't really know him . So the first is we're really good at caring for ourselves . But the second reason we we find it hard to conceptualize God as a refuge is our own experiences of suffering , and what that sounds like in real life might be something like this what kind of refuge would allow this to happen to me ? You can fill in the blank . What kind of refuge would allow a scan to be lit up like that ? What kind of refuge would allow for such a poor prognosis ? What kind of refuge would keep me from having children ? What kind of refuge would keep me so financially strapped ? I barely have two nickels to rub together .

Speaker 2 7:35

And so when we come to this idea of God as refuge , immediately we're confronted with the reality of pain . So the real question behind can I trust God as my refuge is ? Really , can I trust God with my pain ? And that's what the psalmist is trying to answer for us this morning , and his answer to that is yes , you can , you absolutely can . And so this morning we're going to look at refuge from three or angles , if you will . First , the path of refuge . Second , the promises of refuge . And third , the person of refuge . So the first thing the psalmist shows us is that there is a path to refuge , and there are really two things that he's concerned with . If you have your Bible or a phone , you can pull that out now and follow along with me .

Speaker 2 8:27

I'll be moving through the text , hopefully not too quickly , but I'm going to read verses 1 to 2 of Psalm 91 . He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty . In the shadow of the Almighty , I will say to the Lord , my refuge and my fortress , my God , in whom I trust . Okay , so the first thing that we notice in this psalm is that there's a change of tenses If you look between the first verse and the second verse . The first verse is in third person , the second verse is in first person . It goes .

Speaker 2 9:06

The psalmist appears to be saying the one who spends time with God will know him as a shelter and refuge . He will experience his rest . That's what he's saying in verse one . And then another voice comes in and responds , as if to say great , I want that . I want God as my refuge , I want to experience the Lord that way . And so the first thing we find concerning I want God as my refuge , I want to experience the Lord that way . And so the first thing we find concerning the path to refuge is that we actually have to work backwards with verse two first , which is surrender .

Speaker 2 9:34

The path to refuge begins with surrender . It begins with these words I will say to the Lord , I will trust the Lord . The second thing we find and this is where I want to land on this point for this morning is that it's sustained by intimacy . So the path begins with surrender , but it's sustained by intimacy . The psalmist says he who dwells in the shelter of the Most High . So here's the secret to the path of refuge If you want to know God , this is all you have to know . Say you want to and live like you mean it . Say you want to and live like you mean it Isn't that amazing . It's really that simple . That's how simple God has made it .

Speaker 2 10:20

Now it's a little tongue in cheek , but I think the psalm is as well . As we move through it , I think you'll see and what we'll see in a moment is in verses 3 to 13 that the psalmist is about to list off a load of promises that are yours if you make God your refuge . But he doesn't want you to be fooled . That's why we have verses 1 and 2 . By beginning with this encouragement to dwell with God in the opening verses and then listing off all the promises that we're about to look at in a moment , he's basically saying this don't expect to experience God in these ways if you're not willing to live with him . Charles Spurgeon says of verse one I think the quote will be thrown up behind me so you can follow along . It's amazing .

Speaker 2 11:05

It gets at this idea of dwelling with God , the difficulty of dwelling with God and the promises that come along with it . He says the promises in this psalm are not for every believer but for those who live in close fellowship with God . Every child of God looks towards the inner sanctuary and mercy seat . That's important . What I don't want you to hear me saying is that if you don't dwell with God with intensity and with rhythmic intimacy , that he's somehow not your refuge . Every child of God , every child who says I trust you , gets Jesus as his refuge . But he goes on to say Christ and Christ in him become possessors of rare and special benefits which are missed by those who follow from a distance .

Speaker 2 12:10

When the psalmist begins by saying he who dwells in the shelter of the most high , what he is inviting you to is a life of not following God from a distance . That's what's on offer . There's too much at stake . There's too much that Jesus wants to be for you right now that you'll miss out on if your friendship is one of occasional approaches . Jesus actually says something similar in John 15 . He says abide in my love . And then he goes on to say you are my friends if you keep my commands , which is another way of saying pursue a life of intimacy and you'll know what it's like to be my friend and you'll experience all the benefits that come with it . But notice what Jesus is not saying in John 15 , when he says you are my friends if you do what I command . He's not saying . He doesn't say you are saved if you keep my commands . He says you are my friend , which means Jesus is objectively your refuge . When you surrender your life to him , no matter how imperfectly we follow him , he will always be our refuge . But what the word friend is meant to capture is this Jesus doesn't wanna be the one who just saves you . He wants to be the one who knows you better than anybody else . He doesn't just wanna save you , he wants to know you , he wants to love you . But he also knows that dwelling isn't easy , and we know that dwelling isn't easy . And we know that dwelling isn't easy .

Speaker 2 13:53

This week my wife and I were on our patio I had just gotten home from work and my kids are going through this homeschooling astronomy lesson where they're sort of reciting the planets in order . I had memorized it this week and I already forgot it , so now I can't share the planets with you . I was going to impress you guys and list all of them in order . I don't know how impressive that would be . In my mind it seemed impressive , but my wife started asking them some questions and so she led off with this one . She said girls , what is the closest planet to the sun To which my three girls replied Mercury . And then I wanted to get on this fun . So girls replied Mercury . And then I wanted to get on this fun . So she asked another question and she said , girls , what is the hottest planet ? And I shouted Mercury . And I was wrong , because it's not the hottest planet . I hope I'm not alone in that in here . I hope you guys would have also thought the same thing . It's actually Venus . Venus is the hottest planet , but it's not the closest to the sun . And the reason is it got me thinking . I was sitting there . I was like can I use this for a sermon illustration ? I think I can and the answer is yes , I could . So the atmosphere of Mercury is very thin , so the rays from the sun come in and just go back out as easily and they don't get trapped , so there's no heat . We could use some of that right now in Orlando . It's very hot out Anyway , just as Mercury's . This is what I was thinking about as I was pondering my lack of astronomical knowledge .

Promises of Refuge

Speaker 2 15:14

Just as Mercury's proximity to the sun doesn't make it the hottest planet , our proximity to spiritual things don't make us friends of Jesus . We can be really close to spiritual things and not be very spiritual . And Jesus himself tells us this . He says to the Pharisees , the people who thought they were closest to God woe to you , for you make long prayers for show . He says woe to you , for you care about the outside and not the inside . Jesus is warning us and this should feel kind of scary Jesus is warning us that we can feel furthest we can actually be , excuse me , furthest from the things that we feel closest to . We can deceive ourselves . We're pretty good at doing that . But Jesus knows how hard dwelling can be . And so he gives us two things he gives us his spirit and he gives us each other . He gives us his spirit because his spirit is the only hope we have in becoming like him . You can't dwell with Jesus apart from his spirit . You just can't . And even if you thought you could , no amount of spiritless dwelling would ever make you into the kind of person that Jesus wants you to be . It would all be on your own effort and very much alone . Paul says in Galatians that the fruit of the spirit , which is love , joy , peace , patience , kindness , goodness , fruitfulness , gentleness , self-control he says all those things come from the Spirit . And in the very next verse . He says these things belong to those who know Jesus Christ . These things belong to those who know him as their friend . Jesus gives us his Spirit , because we can't be true friends without it or without him , I should say . But Jesus also gives us each other . Jesus gives us one another . He gives us a multitude of brothers and sisters In Matthew 19, .

Speaker 2 17:26

I might have even mentioned this chapter in my last sermon , but it's one of my favorites and you'll hear me say it often if you spend any time around me . Matthew 19, . There's this story of this rich young man who comes to Jesus and says what must I do ? I'm gonna paraphrase it says what must I do to be your friend ? And Jesus says sell everything and follow me . And he turns around . But Peter says Jesus , we've done this . What do we get ? And Jesus says I tell you truly , there is no one who has left house , or brothers or sisters , or mother or father or children or lands , for my sake in the gospel , who will not receive a hundredfold now , in this time . Jesus isn't saying that the family we get is some future heavenly reality . It's a now . It's a here and now reality and we need to live like that . The other thing is Jesus assumes that the most costly thing we'll leave behind is relational and familial . He just assumes that . But if we follow Jesus , he promises that we will not be relationally worse off . So here's what Jesus is saying . He's saying when we follow him , we get each other .

Speaker 2 18:51

And this corporate family is a key ingredient to our private dwelling . Jude puts it this way . He says keep one another in the love of God . That's our task , that's our sole responsibility here on earth is to keep one another in the love of God . In other words , make sure your brother or your sister is dwelling with Jesus , are friends with Jesus . And one of the ways we do that around here is through communities and circles . But you could also throw the all of life guide in there , where twice a year , we take a moment to pause and slow down and take inventory of our lives and we ask ourselves a question am I treating Jesus like a friend ? How well am I actually dwelling with him ? And it's an important question to ask and it's an important question to share with each other . I'll end this point here .

Speaker 2 19:56

Jesus doesn't just command our dwelling because he needs it . He doesn't . He commands our dwelling because we need it . We need Jesus as our friend . There's no way need it . We need Jesus as our friend , there's no way around it . And because dwelling is his selfless invitation to us , because it's him saying , no , actually , I want to spend time with you . We can trust him that dwelling is for our good . So the path to refuge begins with surrender , but it's sustained by dwelling or a life of intimacy with Jesus . But on this path linking back to that Spurgeon quote Jesus also wants to give us gifts . He wants to give us those rare and special gifts that you only get when you walk that path with him as a friend . In other words , there are promises that come along with making God our refuge . I didn't know that our call to worship this morning was going to be from Ruth . Maybe I should have . I didn't , but I thought about Ruth when I was writing this sermon .

Speaker 2 21:08

Ruth and refuge are synonymous with one another . Ruth , just to give you a quick sort of summary of the story she leaves behind her land and people and country and follows Naomi to go to her country and to worship her God . And she finds this gentleman there named Boaz , who ultimately becomes her refuge . And Boaz says this to her to Ruth's willingness to leave Boaz says Yahweh , repay you for what you have done and a full reward be given you by the Lord , the God of Israel , under whose wings you have come to take refuge . God rewards us when we choose to make him our refuge . And do you know how he rewarded Ruth ? The refuge that Ruth sought , god gave to her in the person of Jesus Christ . Jesus Christ , the Messiah , came from Ruth's line . Ruth was David's great-grandmother . Someone who really had no business with these people made her way in , was welcomed by the love of God through Boaz and played an integral part in the story of refuge . I can imagine David probably sat under his great-grandmother , ruth's feet and listened to stories of refuge from her . So when David or the psalmist speaks about refuge , we can trust him .

Speaker 2 22:37

So what are the promises of refuge ? I just want to list off a few real quick and then I want to say a couple things about them . If you look at verses 3 to 13 , that's where we'll be . Verse 3 , first promise of refuge is deliverance , it says . The psalmist is likening us to a baby bird here . We're helpless , we need covering and , by default , if we are the baby bird , there is a mother bird who is protecting us , and this imagery is not new as we come to it in Psalm 91 . It's all throughout the Old Testament where God regularly defines himself as a mother bird who would come to his chicks , so to speak , and cover them and protect them . So the first promise is deliverance . If we walk this path of refuge , god promises to deliver us .

Speaker 2 23:28

The fourth is in verse or , excuse me , the second is in verse four . He will cover you with his pinions , which is just another way of saying I will put my wings around you . That's the promise of protection . Third , the promise of peace is in verse five . You will not fear the terror of the night , nor the arrow that flies by day . You will not fear the terror of the night , nor the arrow that flies by day .

Speaker 2 23:52

Paul says in Philippians 4 , it's a peace that surpasses all understanding . This is the kind of peace that you get when you make God your refuge . Look at verses seven to eight , if you will , for a second . In verse seven to eight , the psalmist talks about nearness to suffering . Thousands will fall around you , 10,000 at your right hand , but it will not touch you . Here's what you have to know about this kind of peace . If you make God your protection , if you take the presence of God seriously , proximity to suffering will not affect your peace . If you make God your refuge . One of the promises he gives you is that proximity to suffering , nearness to suffering , will not affect your peace . You will have a calmness that you can only get when you make Jesus your friend . You get that kind of resilience through a life of dwelling .

Speaker 2 24:54

Now , I titled this point Promises of Refuge , but there's really just one promise of refuge . I listed off a few there . There's some more that come in verses 14 to 16 . But there's really only one promise of refuge and we find that in verse 15 . Look at verse 15 . It reads when he calls to me , I will answer , I will be with him .

Speaker 2 25:20

The promise of refuge , the promise of refuge from which all other promises of God are subsumed and come is the promise of presence . The promise of refuge is the promise of presence . We need deliverance , we need protection , we need and desire peace , but we don't get any of those things apart from the presence of God . You can try all day long to manufacture those and , as I mentioned earlier , we're pretty good at it , but it won't last . You need the presence of Jesus to get the promises of Jesus .

Speaker 2 25:56

Now you may have noticed that in these verses the tone of the psalm changes . Verse one and two feel a little bit different from verses three to 13 . Maybe it's fair to say that , not so much the tone , because it's still confident . You still get this underlying tone of confidence , but the content changes All of a sudden . We're talking a lot about hard things , and there's a reason for this . It's a reminder to us that this psalm is set in the real world .

Speaker 2 26:22

This psalm is set in the world we live in . Um . I was on youtube the other day , just wasting time , just in full transparency , um , and I came across a Bob Ross video . Okay , this psalmist knows that we don't live in a Bob Ross world . There aren't happy little accidents everywhere we walk , or happy little clouds , happy little trees . This psalm knows about the fact that there are dark places in this world . He's not trying to cover that up . Places in this world . He's not trying to cover that up . And no place is darker than death . No place that will go is darker than death . And yet even death is one of the paths that Jesus promises to guide us on .

Speaker 2 27:09

Notice that it's not only the tone that changes in these verses , but in verses 14 to 16 , the psalm goes from talking . This is one of the coolest things of the psalm , by the way . If you do have a Bible or phone , I would suggest you get it out , because this is so amazing . Not only does the tone change , but the psalm goes from talking about God to verses 14 to 16 , god talking about us . An entirely new voice comes into the equation . Verse 3 to 13, . He will deliver , he will protect , he will be with . This is the psalmist giving a testimony of Jesus to his faithfulness . Verse 14 , I will deliver , I will protect , I will be with God interrupts the psalmist to confirm that he is the kind of God that the psalmist is making him out to be . He says yes , this is true , this is who I am , and it's interesting at this point in the psalm , where the psalmist is reflecting on the dark things of the world , that God himself interrupts to comfort him . It's a reminder that it's often the hardest times in life when God's presence can feel most sweet to us .

Speaker 2 28:34

God doesn't just make it so the night doesn't exist anymore . He doesn't always remove the darkness from our lives . He can , and sometimes he does , and praise him for that , but he doesn't always remove the darkness . He doesn't take away the arrows that fly by day . To use the language of the Psalmist . That's often what we want him to do , but that's not always what he does . Actually , he does something even better he gives us himself .

Speaker 2 29:02

In the midst of all those things , if we're honest with ourselves , the one thing we want when we're really in the darkness , when the arrows are flying , the one thing we really want is Jesus . Even if we ask for deliverance and protection and peace and for it all to go away , at the end of the day , even if all that went away , we'd still need and want Jesus . The only way those things really truly permanently go away is if you have Jesus . We don't sit in the terror of the night alone . That's the promise of this psalm . So let the darkest moments of your life become the moments when you're most aware of the presence of God . And here's why I was thinking about the doctrine of our union with Christ recently , and here's why this matters .

The Path of Refuge With Jesus

Speaker 2 29:58

There are places in life that we can't go with each other . There are places in life that we can't go with each other , but where we can go with Jesus , you can get real practical with it . You can't take someone with you into an MRI machine . Trust me , if I could , I would . I hate those things . I had to have one like a month ago . You can't do that . More importantly , you can't take someone with you into death . You have to walk into death , through death , by yourself , but not alone , because Jesus has defeated death and gone through death and come out on the other side . He is the only person who can go through that with you .

Speaker 2 30:42

When Jesus says at the end of Matthew's gospel , behold , I am with you until the end of the age , he means it Because he's the only person who can really say that with conviction . We can trust him . We can trust him to be present with us . There's no moment of our lives we have to face without Jesus . That's the ultimate promise . So there's a path of refuge or to refuge that we embark on through surrender and we stay on through a life of intimacy or dwelling with Jesus . There are promises that Jesus wants to give us on that path , ultimately the promise of presence . And that brings us to our third point , which is the person of refuge , and this is where we'll close , so it'd be a conclusion of sorts .

Speaker 2 31:37

Even though there's a path of refuge that we can remain on by dwelling with God , even though there are promises or rewards that we experience from God as we walk that path , we live a life of intimacy with him , we need a person of refuge , and here's why Because the only way to lay hold of those promises is in their entirety and in their fullness is if someone walks that path . For us , someone has to walk that path perfectly . The secret to the possession of God's promises of refuge is look with me at verse 14 , real quick . The secret to the possession of God's promises of refuge is this hold fast to me in love . Only one person has ever done that perfectly , and so , while this psalm is about us , it's more accurately about Jesus . You and I can't walk the path of refuge perfectly . We're not very good at holding fast to God in love , but here's , hopefully , a bit of comfort . We're not very good at holding fast to God and love , but here's , hopefully , a bit of comfort . We're not alone in that . Jesus isn't in the business of shaming . He knows that we're not that good at doing that . We're not alone in that , in fact , failure is the story of humanity .

Speaker 2 33:02

Isaiah . In the book of Isaiah , god says this is the way . Walk in it . But none of God's people ever really did that well . Many of God's people haven't done that well . I don't do that well , but that's okay , because God's heart is not against his people . His heart breaks for his people and so does his sons .

Speaker 2 33:37

In Hosea , god says Israel , you have destroyed yourself . Israel , you have destroyed yourself . He says this from a place of sorrow and lament , not with a pointing finger . His heart is broken when he says that , israel , you have destroyed yourself . On his way to the cross , jesus says Jerusalem , how often I have wanted to gather you under my wings , but you would not let me .

Speaker 2 34:03

We're not good at seeking refuge . We're not good at seeking refuge . Most of the time we run from it or we manufacture it . But there is one who is perfect at it and that's Jesus . And in fact Satan uses Psalm 91 against Jesus in his wilderness temptation . Satan says if you are the son of God , throw yourself down and God will command his angels to guard . You See , what Satan wanted was evidence of God's goodness . Satan wanted tangible evidence . He wanted to see it with his own eyes . Show me that you're a refuge . Jesus said I'll take my father at his word . We're a lot more like that than we'd like to think . Not like Jesus , like the enemy . We want tangible evidence of God's goodness and refuge in our life , and when we don't get that , it's a problem . But Jesus said I'll take him at his word and that was Jesus' heart in all of life . And because of that , verses 14 to 16 are first about Jesus and then about us . Because Jesus held fast to the Father in love and brought us under his wings , god will satisfy us with long life . The last verse he will show us his salvation .

Speaker 2 35:30

In the late 80s there were a series of forest fires in Yellowstone National Park and , as I understand it , they started out controlled , but then they soon got out of hand and they caused a lot of damage . Out controlled , but then they soon got out of hand and they caused a lot of damage . There was another story that quickly was linked to National Geographic that had to do with these fires and it was about a mother bird who rescued her babies . It was actually disproven . So as I was thinking about this , I was like this isn't going to bode well for my illustration , I think we could still use it . There was a mother bird who rescued her chicks in this fire . One of the park rangers , though , said that the behavior that this bird showed would not have been inconsistent with the kind of species of bird that it was . So even if it didn't happen , it could have happened , so we're going to go with that . After these fires I should also mention it's like a parable from a farm in 1945 . I think there's more credit there , so we'll go with that one .

Finding Refuge in Jesus

Speaker 2 36:31

After these fires , forest rangers began to hike up the mountain to basically assess the damage . There were lots of ashes , broken down trees , as you would imagine , a lot of ruin , and one of the rangers found a bird literally petrified in ashes . It was perched almost like a statue next to a tree , and it was eerie even disgusting , you might say . And this ranger took a stick and sort of poked over the bird just to sort of , maybe like , put it to rest . Finally , when he did that , three little birds came out from beneath the wings of this petrified mother and scurried off . The mother was keenly aware of the impending disaster of these fires , and so she carried them to the base of the tree and she gathered them . She could have flown away to safety , but she refused to abandon her babies . She was willing to die so that those under the cover of her wings could live .

Speaker 2 37:40

Whether or not that illustration is true , it paints a beautiful picture of what Jesus is willing to do for us , what he has done for us . In the cross of Christ we see the most amazing refuge Jesus taking the heat of all the punishment of our sin , so that in him we can shelter and be protected . He is surely our refuge . Let's pray . He is surely our refuge . Let's pray . Let's pray . He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty Father . We can often feel like the words we thank you for Jesus feel too inadequate , but we do thank you for him . Only Jesus can provide the refuge we need from pain , from death , from ourselves . We thank you that he's the kind of refuge that doesn't go running at the first sign of trouble , but rather that he's the kind that would lay his life down for his friends , the one who knows us by name , the one who holds fast to us in love , so that we might be satisfied with long life and , as the psalmist puts it , know your salvation . We pray this in his name , jesus , our refuge , amen .

Speaker 2 39:03

Well , we come to that point in our service where we want to respond with reflection and prayer , and so I want to give you guys two questions to think about , and then I'm going to step down for two minutes or so , and you guys know the drill at this point .

Speaker 2 39:20

You know how it works . But I also want to just remind us that we don't have a table this morning . So after we have this time of reflection , josh and everyone up here will lead us in our closing song and after a couple verses , you can sort of feel free to stand , but consider making those first two or three verses part of your response to what you've just heard this morning . And so what I would ask you guys is just to consider this what are you taking refuge in right now ? Simple question what are you taking refuge in right now ? Whose or what wings are you coming under ? It could be money , it could be job security , it could be another person . You can also simultaneously think about this what's keeping you from trusting Jesus as your refuge ? What's keeping you from trusting Jesus as your refuge , or what are you telling yourself that you need from him that you feel like you currently don't have ? Take the next two minutes to think about those , and then we'll stand together and worship .