Can we experience God without experiencing refuge?
Many of you know I have this weird, borderline obsessive way of reading the Bible each day. I use the Daily Office in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and end up reading the whole Psalms 4-6 times a year. One of the interesting (to me) things I do is keep track of broader theological topics I recognize throughout all the reading.
I am beginning to think the idea of "refuge" is actually an important part of the Christian life. Let me explain this idea of "refugeing" I am thinking through right now.
It shows up in Psalms 34x, and this covers over half of the references of the Hebrew word in the Old Testament. To say it covers the water might be a bit of an understatement.
If we analyze it grammatically, refuge has a couple of meanings.
To find shelter from a literal storm.
To flee for protection.
To have hope and trust.
If we press into the idea more, we realize that seeking refuge can stress the insecurity and self-helplessness of even the stronger person. (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament). The outcome of "refugeing" gives us many things; two of which are blessings (ps 2:12) and salvation (ps 17:7).
So here is where things have taken a weird turn for me.
The BCP had me reading the entire book of Job this past month. In fact, I really don't like reading Job. Not because I find it boring, I just have never known what to do with it. The basic level of "this guy had a hard time and is trying to find comfort" doesn't come across to me. In this past reading, I kept trying to figure out what the actual sin of Job was.
About halfway through, I realized it was Job. He was trying to have a life of faith without ever experiencing the transformative power of "refugeing". Job was counting on his own righteousness, thinking it should keep him from all harm. He gets belligerent with his friends when he keeps denying any wrong. And when he does finally come face to face with the LORD in the book, God keeps telling him he isn't as powerful as he thinks he is.
Can we experience God without experiencing refuge?
In the gospels, one of the repeated teachings of Jesus (another thing I am fascinated with) is the idea of "losing yourself to find yourself." Unless we confront our desire for power and control, we will limit our experience with Jesus, and our salvation.
I now think this connects to a broader theology. We need to experience situations that grow our trust in God. This doesn't mean needing to suffer, but needing to have the realization we aren't in control, God is in control, and we are 100% comfortable with it.
So some practical help for this idea.
If we don't have situations to trust God in, we aren't going to do this.
It doesn't mean praying for bad things to happen. But, it might mean realizing that prayer can help us learn to trust more.
Get Hyper-Focused.
If we want to do this, we need to be able to name it. See where we are both currently anxious for things AND realize the places we are absolutely NOT anxious. Both of them need to direct their prayers towards God. Both of these things are places we are willingly giving up control. It can be emotions, actions, thoughts, or pretty much anything else. But we have to do it.
Write them down.
Remember. Hyper-Focused. We write them down for a bit of actualization, but we also write them down so we can be focused in our prayer life. These need to be things we go to daily. If we are building up trust muscles, those muscles need to get worked out. Grab a cheap notebook, and daily make the list. We need to be comfortable realizing some things can end up being on that list for a long time.
Wait
There is a biblical precedence for waiting. Waiting means engaging patience. Alan Kreider says this about patience.
"Patient Christians live at the pace given by God, accepting incompleteness and waiting."
If we are going to be persistent in learning the power of refuge, we need to be consistent in it.
Journal through it.
Write down the way these things change. Celebrate when prayers are answered. Process the way your mind and life is growing in these areas.
It might be big of me to say this, but I am growing towards the understanding it is impossible to experience God without experiencing the power of refuge.
Until next time
Chad
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