“Shelter in place” is becoming our survival mode and the new normal, but to king David it became an opportunity to take refuge in God. From the moment David had been anointed king by the prophet Samuel, he had been on the run from Saul. Finding no safe place to settle he was forced to find his home hiding in caves at the edge of the wilderness. Driven to homelessness with little evidence that he was God’s anointed “son,” his soul became disoriented. But when he sought refuge in God, the light of salvation broke in upon his soul and vanquished the dark shadows of death with such force that he never forgot who he was. God was exceedingly near: “For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me in the secret place of his tent” (Ps 27:5). Once he was securely hidden, David’s heart was inundated with a divine beauty that seized all his senses and his fears melted away. As John would later write, “Perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). In fleeing to God, he not only found a firm footing and protective covering (“He will lift me up on a rock” v. 5), but an exaltation that lifted him far above his enemies, so that all he could do was shout with joy and sing his praises—”I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy!” (v. 6). David saw this act as the defining moment in his life, one that supremely characterized God’s everlasting commitment to him—”One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire at his temple.” May you, our PBCC family, find shelter in God’s holy place. Amen.
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Times of Sacrifice