Refuge

Place of refuge…

Refuge in the storm….

Come to the place of refuge.

For I know you like to come to this place.

Yet I say to you come out, come out, come out wherever you are.

It is safe to come out.

I want you to come out.

Be out, not in.

For I love to see your face, I love to hear your voice, I long for your presence.

Just be present, not absent.

But I want to be absent, I want to be away, to get lost. For I have lost myself. I cannot respond to your call, because I have lost myself. I’m happy to come to you, for I know you are here.

Yet it is I who have formed you. I know what you are made of. I recognise my handiwork. I don’t need to do a close inspection. For my eye is always upon you.

What if, what if, what if, your mind is overwhelmed by the what if’s!

What if I have made you a place of refuge, a mighty fortress, designed to go out.

What if you possess all might…

What if you are the strongest person in this battle…

What if you cannot be defeated, what if I have called you to rule…

What if I have made you irresistible?

What if I have given you all power and authority.

What if I have anointed your lips.

What if I have clothed you in righteousness.

What if I have already restored your soul, your self.

What if this is just the beginning of my goodness.

What if this is merely a taste, a taster, a free sample of what is to come.

What if you go into the ice cream store, and are hesitant to ask for a sample, yet I have given you the whole store, the whole chain!

For I have come against your hesitation, I have come to invite you to swap your hesitation for my confidence.

Is anything too hard for me?

Song of Songs 2:14 So I went with him, and when we were climbing the rocky steps up the hillside, my beloved shepherd said to me O my dove, while you are here in the seclusion of the clefts in the solid rock, in the sheltered and secret place of the cliff, let me see your face,let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.

Don’t be shy about it!

Song of Songs 2:14 Come, my shy and modest dove — leave your seclusion, come out in the open. Let me see your face, let me hear your voice. For your voice is soothing and your face is ravishing.

For you have taken much onboard in the storm, yet I am not bailing you out, I’m calling you out!

It is I that calls your name, come…

For it is not in your nature to be timid, yet you are so shy about it.

How can the one who is not timid be shy?

It is in your posture, in your heart and in your mind you have resolved to be resolute. You will not shy away from your calling, from your beloved. You cannot let it go.

I love that about you!

Yet you hesitate to go public, you want to be private, you are happy to have the private confrontation.

For I’m taking you back to a defining moment. Your plumbing client, that you found in a very difficult place, for he had just lost his beloved, and you felt my call to be his refuge. On the outside he was so very different from you, super strong, super fit, not shy, very tough ex policeman. Yet on the inside you are stronger than he.

Yet there came a time when you had to draw a line, where the demand greatly exceeded your supply and the budget. Rather than come into line, he broke the containment lines and went direct to your supplier.

You considered it a defining moment, you were content to let it go, and then he brought it up, so as to assert his authority over you, to denounce your expertise, to deny your efforts, to undermine your position.

Yet when confronted you are not one to back down. It became a robust conversation, where boundaries were drawn. Yet it was public, it was not what you desired, and yet your investment was divested once again.

Yet it is not the same, yet it is new, yet I am calling you forth.

I have given you my words, I have made the proclamation, I have commanded you to take up your position.

For you will be to them a great refuge, a mighty fortress, for the enemy shall not prevail against you.

Jeremiah 1:17-19 But you Jeremiah, gird up your loins! Arise and tell them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed and break down at the sight of their faces, lest I confound you before them and permit you to be overcome. For I, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar and bronze walls against the whole land—against the successive kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land giving you divine strength which no hostile power can overcome. And they shall fight against you, but they shall not finally prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.

Advance, overtake, recover all.