Day 17: Refuge From Above
Read: Psalm 9:7–10
The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
— Psalm 9:9 (ESV)
Reflect
There are different kinds of safe places. A cellar keeps you safe by being underground. A wall keeps you safe by being thick. The word in this verse describes a third kind.
The word translated "stronghold" is misgav, and it means a high refuge, a place that keeps you safe by being set too high to reach. Think of a fortress on a cliff face, or a citadel on top of a hill. Enemies may surround the base, but they cannot climb to where you are.
Now notice who this high refuge is for. "The oppressed." The word behind it means the crushed. People who have been pressed down, ground under, flattened by circumstances or by other people.
That is the beauty of this verse. The ones who have been pushed lowest are exactly the ones God lifts highest. The crushed are the ones who are lifted.
Some refuges are built low. This one is set out of reach.
And it is "a stronghold in times of trouble." That word for trouble is the same narrow, squeezing word we met in Psalm 4 (Day 7). When life tightens around you, God does not only make room. He also lifts you above what is pressing in.
Across Scripture
The same word rings through Psalm 46: "The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress" (Psalm 46:7, 11). It belongs alongside the other great words for God's protection in Psalms 46 and 91: refuge, strength, shield, and fortress. Together they say that the God who hears the crushed is a safe place on every level.
Sit With It
If you cannot climb out of what is crushing you, ask God to lift you above it.
Pray
Set me on high, out of reach of this.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.