God's Castle Walls

“How great is Your goodness,

Which You have stored up for those who fear You,
Which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You,
Before the sons of men!
You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man;
You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues.
Blessed be the Lord
For He has made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city.”
Psalm 31:19-21

“Those who take refuge in You”, “You hide them in the secret place of Your presence”, and “You keep them secretly in a shelter”.  These all remind me of Psalm 91: “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?’” and “He will cover you with His pinion, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.”

So, the question is how do we enter into His protection?  Psalm 31 says that it is the “secret place of His presence.”  We enter into His presence with praise and thanksgiving.  We go confidently before the throne of grace and sit in His lap and dance in His presence.  We bow before Him and walk with Him.  When we are in prayer we are in the presence of God!  There in His presence we are free from the worries of the conspiracies of men, form the strife of tongues, from the besieged city, from the snare of the trapper, and from deadly pestilence and terror and destruction, etc… (Psalm 91)  The world is a hard place; it is Satan’s domain.  But as Christians, as children of the King we have a refuge – a shelter!  There we find God’s lovingkindness and His faithfulness.  There we find joy in the midst.  There is peace. 

Are you hiding under His wings?  Are you running to His shelter and protection?  When hard things happen are you taking refuge in God?  He is bigger than our circumstances and will either change the circumstances or He will change our hearts.  Sometimes the changing of our hearts is the harder way, but God lifts us up and gives us strength.