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Refreshment in Refuge

    by Gina Burgess

Direction of Reflection
Date Posted: January 10, 2016

I was hunting through my old columns for the Front Porch Bible study I’ll be leading this coming Wednesday. At the bottom of one of them I said this,” When someone finds your goat and steals it, then first listen to God’s voice as He says, ‘Peace. Be still.’ Say the first ten words of the Lord’s Prayer. Pour out every bit of your ire, bitterness, hurt, unforgiveness, and stubbornness before Him. Every time you think of what has hurt you, pray one of David’s prayers. Trust God to vindicate you. He absolutely will. You may never know it or hear of it, but He will. Know that others are watching how you handle the situation and judging Jesus by your responses. Is that fair? Of course not, but nothing in this life is really fair. We’ll have to wait until Heaven for that.”

This comes just after I acted like a horse’s patoot yesterday toward my sweet, precious mom who never has a mean thought or action.

I just love how God uses my own words to remind me how I should act. Sometimes I look back at my columns in complete wonder that at one time I possessed such wisdom, and it seems that that prized wisdom has dispersed like wispy fog in the face of the burning sun.

Where does it go? Does that wisdom get buried under the weight of daily living? Does it drop to the bottom of the sea like an anchor heaved? Or does wisdom dangle in space like keys on a belt, forgotten until a lock needs unlocking?

Of course it isn’t fair that unbelievers (and even some believers) judge Jesus by the actions of God’s children. We’re human! We cannot possibly live sin free lives. We will complain (which is a great sin against God smacking of unbelief and distrust of Him—1 Corinthians 10:1-12). We will succumb to a great many temptations. We will falter. We will stumble. We will have bloody noses and scraped knees.

Yet, God has this fabulous way of directing the light and His glory so that Jesus shines in spite of our fumbling and grumbling.

The people’s hearts of Jericho melted when they heard what God saved Israel. Even though Sampson stumbled and fell, he still brought down the temple of the false god of the Philistines down on top of them.

God never fails, but takes every one of our failures and turns it to good. We can’t live the Christian life under our own power. The kind of powerful reflection of God’s glory into this dark world comes only through the power of God using His children to draw the unbelievers to Himself.

Never wallow in a failure. That only adds fuel to Satan’s wicked fires.

Instead, be a David and put your trust in God

Psalm 11:1-7 To the choirmaster of David. In the LORD I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, "Flee like a bird to your mountain,

for behold, the wicked bend the bow; they have fitted their arrow to the string to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;

if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD's throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.

The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.

For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.

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Biography Information:

Gina Burgess has taught Sunday School and Discipleship Training for almost three decades. (Don't tell her that makes her old.) She earned her Master's in Communication in 2013.

She is the author of several books including: When Christians Hurt Christians, The Crowns of the Believers and others available in online bookstores. She authors several columns, using her God-given talent to shine a light in a dark world. You can browse her blog at Refreshment In Refuge.

If you'd like to take a look at some Christian fiction and Christian non-fiction book reviews check out Gina's book reviews at Upon

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