Refuge as Spa
Reflections from Psalm 5
by Tim Lien
But let all who take refuge in You rejoice;
Let them ever sing for joy,
And spread Your protection over them,
That those who love Your name may exult in You.
For You bless the righteous O Lord;
You cover him with Your favor as with a shield.
Psalm 5:11-12
One of the characteristics of the Upside-Down Kingdom is that it pleasantly confronts of all our pre-conceptions about…everything. The imagination and reality of God is always better than what we had cobbled together through sheer opinion and hearsay.
We have heard that God is a refuge. You’ve heard this; you know it; I know it. The older ones (with real scars!)have repeated it: “He’s been our Help in Ages Past.” The lyricists and musicians, too. “There is safety there,” they sing. We might have even acknowledged the theoretical truth of it. It sounds helpful, reassuring. Watch your step as we descend into the bunker of God.
God as a refuge—a bunker, of sorts. God our storm cellar. God our subterranean bunker, fortified with concrete 30 feet thick, reenforced with the hardiest steel you can forge outside of Middle-Earth.
Which, of course, shows the limits of our imaginations.
We can concoct a thought of God as a cold and barren bunker. God rushing us away to His protection may feel more like a Nazi-era air raid drill. There may be a few cots with plastic camp mattresses. There isn’t natural light or greenery, except for the fake succulent some poor optimistic sap has put in the corner. The wall art of LIVE,LAUGH, LOVE seems to mock us a bit. Naked lightbulbs. Intermittent electricity. Rumblings from above and dust sifting down from the bombardments. Almost no life save the quivering souls hugging the little ones close. Smudged faces nibbling on stale saltines while trying to pry into expired sardines with a rusty spoon. It is our hope the trouble will pass so that we can emerge into more luxuriant surroundings, unscathed by the trouble that weighs us down. Back to life; back to reality.
Psalm 5 flips our conceptions of a refuge.
To walk into the place where He works, means that we are walking into a luxuriant rest; it is the world outside that is cold, deadened—filled with anxious dread. The Upside-Down Kingdom is the great reversal of our imaginations.
Who can explain that in dark, dark hours, we can enjoy times of vibrancy, peace, some joy, some song, real exultation and confidence—even favor? Who has an imagination for that? Your Father does.
Reading through Psalm 5, pay attention to the description of the shield.
It is precisely because the refuge is Living that it can be a spa of life-giving-ness. The life granted to you in the refuge is because the Refuge itself is living. Which makes Psalm 7 have certain poignancy to it: “My shield is with God… who feels indignation everyday.” That’s not re-enforced concrete absorbing the attacks; that’s a shelter made with flesh and nerve endings. Or, if you like, a God made flesh—covering, covering, covering. Absorbing. Feeling it. A living refuge.