Jan 30 - Today from Proverbs 30 we look at verse 5
"Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him."
To me, God Himself is not tangible. I don't believe I personally know anyone who has physically touched God. Yet this proverb claims that God is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Just how does one go about doing that?
If this is a fundamental truth, then I guess we should first discern exactly what God shields us from, and how do we appropriate the refuge He provides from it. What do you think?
I would say that because the proverb begins with the proclamation that God's Word is flawless, that this would be a key to our discovery. Believing in God is not enough. We must believe God. To believe God is to take refuge in Him. His Word shields us from deception. If we will believe that His word is truth (John 17:17), then it will be very difficult to be deceived by the errant ways of the world, or by doctrines of demons. A refuge is a place of protection from danger. The danger which is the ultimate threat is not from those who can destroy the body only, but from the One who can destroy both the soul and the body in hell (Matthew 10:28). God's Word not only brings judgment upon those who do not receive its truth; it also provides mercy and life for those who do. To abide in His truth is a refuge from deceit. Those who remain deceived will in the end find no refuge at all.
A final thought - the N.T. speaks in numerous places about the wrath of God, which is being stored up for the unrighteous (i.e. 1 Thes. 1:10). Not a pleasant thought. Often the instruments of God's wrath are his enemies, and we believe that in the last days Satan will be unleashed. There will be only one refuge in those days, and that is the living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:14). He is our only refuge because He has already experienced the wrath of God, brought against our sin in His own body. He rose victorious over the power of and penalty for sin, and in Him, and Him alone, do we find eternal refuge from the wrath of God .
Since Nov 08
About Me
- Ken
- While mentor-ing a couple of young men late in the year 2001 , I told them that if they agreed to read a chapter of Proverbs each week-day as a part of their devotions, I would choose one verse from the chapter and share a meditation by email. They agreed. I continued to write the meditations at my desk in my home for the next two and a half years. They began to forward them to their friends and I received requests from those friends to be placed on the email list. My personal email bundle was to about eighty people. Many of those people forwarded them to friends all over the country – and some over the world. Only the Lord knows how extensive the writings traveled. I am not a professional writer, and each meditation was spun off in a relatively short period of time during my own personal devotions in the morning. In April of 2004 I assembled 366 of the meditations into a calendar year. As I now bring up the Proverb of the Day to send on to my friends, I am surprised at how fresh each of them is to my own heart – and often how they speak to me in a completely different way than when I first wrote them. . . . . Ken Sweers
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