"In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame;
deliver me in your righteousness.
Turn your ear to me,
come quickly to my rescue;
be my rock of refuge,
a strong fortress to save me.
Since you are my rock and my fortress,
for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
Keep me free from the trap that is set for me,
for you are my refuge.
Into your hands I commit my spirit;
deliver me, Lord, my faithful God".
— Psalm 31:1-5
I am so deeply moved by how profoundly these longings are fulfilled by Jesus.
In the midst of relationship challenges, he is our refuge. In the middle of a conflict, he is our righteous deliverer.
Before the pandemic, and now in it, he is our rock. In the grip of the powers of sin, death, and evil he is our saviour.
In the complexity of this current age, he is our guide. Publicly, politically, personally, and privately he is our defender.
In the silence, and in the noise he listens. In our feelings of lostness, he is our rescuer. He is our leader.
I will spend the rest of my life being grateful for Jesus, it’s overwhelming to reflect on what it cost him at the cross to be this for us.
At the cross, he became a refugee from the refuge of his father. He wasn’t spared from the cross, he went willingly so he could save us. At the cross, he is forsaken so we can be found.
At the cross, he faces shame so we don’t have to. At the cross, he delivers us from the holy, righteous wrath of God.
John Stott reminds us in The Cross of Christ of who God is and what he is doing for us at the cross:
"For in order to save us in such a way as to satisfy himself, God through Christ substituted himself for us. Divine love triumphed over divine wrath by divine self-sacrifice. The cross was an act simultaneously of punishment and amnesty, severity and grace, justice and mercy”. (Page 158).
"…the righteous, loving Father humbled himself to become in and through his only Son flesh, sin and a curse for us, in order to redeem us without compromising his own character". (Page 159).
Because of what God has done in Jesus at the cross, Jesus is now my refuge, my deliverer, my rescuer, and my rock.
He is my saviour, my guide, and my fortress.
He listens to me, defends me, and leads me.
