God’s Promise

Psalm 118:8 states that “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.” According to the website, http://www.merriam-webster.com, the word refuge means to find shelter or protection from danger or distress. More specifically, in the Bible, it means that God can always be trusted to look out for us so that we don’t need to be afraid.

So, what do you think the meaning of Psalm 118:8 is? Does it mean that we can’t trust men at all?

No, because I know that there are good people who exist in this world, but no one can be trusted as fully as God can. That’s His promise to His people. He gives us that safe place where we know that we won’t be judged or looked down on because of our past mistakes. (Related post: Finding Our Safe Space)

But isn’t that the truth of things? I know many people. In fact, there are many, many good people that I’ve made sure to surround myself with. Yet as many good people that there are out there, there are also those who don’t care about what happens to us. God’s not like that at all! We have a God who waits for us to humble ourselves and ask Him for healing so that we can find that refuge that we all want. (Related post: Our God Waits). We have to look within and see our faults so that we can ask Him for forgiveness. God alone can heal us and make us better than we were before, but He won’t do it until you ask. It’s the hardest step, I know because I’ve been there myself. However, if you want to find joy and peace, then it’s the most important step to take.

So, what did I learn from this? Humbling yourself is so hard. There was a poem I read one time and although I can’t remember who wrote it or even the whole part of it, there was one portion that stuck with me. So, in the poem, it states that this person had come to God so that He would fix everything that was broken in their life. And here is where I only remember a small but what I feel is a significant part of the poem that I will try to quote exactly. It stated, “In frustration, I snatched it back and said, “My God, why are you so slow?” And He said, “My child, you never did let go.””

That poem always, always, always is a reminder to me that if I want peace and joy, then I have to trust Him enough to let go so that He can help me. Trust me, I’m still working on that even though, I can tell you that it has surely gotten easier over time!

What can you gain from this? The point of that part of the poem is so true for all of us. God can’t give us TRUE healing until we are fully ready to give it to God. God gave us free will, but we keep messing it up because we aren’t trusting Him to fully take over and cleanse us. Until I fully let go and then gave it to God, I was only half of the person that He knew that I could be. Yeah, it’s hard. I get that. But you can’t heal your hurt if you don’t trust Him enough. When you are able to let go, then you start to realize that it wasn’t such a hard thing after all and then the next time is that much easier.