Hope

You are my refuge and my shield; your word is my source of hope.

Psalms 119:114 (NLT)

Another word for a refuge would be a safe place. Yet David wasn't some snowflake who just needed to run away and hide from the responsibilities of life. He was a mighty warrior.

David wasn't so macho to deny that he needed to find refuge in God. For much of his young adulthood he was a fugitive from the murderous incumbent king Saul. If God wasn't his refuge he wouldn't have survived.

Sometimes we need to flee, at other times we need to fight. For David it wasn't fight or flight, it was literally both at different times. When he did have to stand and fight, the Lord was his shield.

David's hope wasn't in his own strength. It wasn't even in the promise that he would become king. David's hope was in the word of God, which always proves true and hopeful.

'Dear Lord, may we prove You to be our refuge and shield. May Your word be our source of hope. For the honour of Your name, amen'

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