By Abi Burton
This summer I was able to attend a women’s conference in Cambridge, UK, all about The Undivided Heart; we heard from a whole host of fantastic speakers but two that really connected for me were a talk by Baroness Cox on ‘The Privilege of Making a Difference’ and a seminar led by Faith Rawley about ‘Soaking in God’s Love’. Baroness Cox had spoken about the particular difficulties faced by the people of Burma, how they had been forced from their homes and villages by the thousands and were now wandering aimlessly; trekking through the jungles and wading through rivers with their few possessions on their backs. They were refugees, fleeing their home countries without a destination to aim for, without hope of finding rest in the near future.
Later in Faith’s seminar, we were encouraged to take time and reflect on God’s Word from Psalm 91:1-4:
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
One word instantly stood out to me: refuge. I began to understand what that really meant, seeing it that day in the context of the Burmese refugees who were walking and walking, without hope or destination. God began to speak to me about what it meant to take my refuge in Him; slowly seeing that is it more than I had ever imagined! Not only should I see my relationship with Him as a place of shelter, protection and safety but knowing God as my refuge means the opposite to being a refugee.
A refugee is someone who is being driven on without any idea true of where they are going; with God as my refuge, I am aiming straight for Him. A refugee lacks hope of ever coming to rest; my hope is rooted in God and his plan for me: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19).
Instead, we can say to our souls; “Be content.” Just as the Psalmist declared of the Lord in Psalm 46,“[He] is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging” (v1-3).
No matter what the circumstances we are in, whether the world is falling apart around us or it just feels as though it is, “The Lord Almighty is with us; [God] is our fortress” (Psalm 46:7).
This, I believe, is contentment in its truest sense. Not happiness necessarily, which is only one way in which we use the word. The definition of ‘content’ is:
Being satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else.
This is exactly the attitude that we adopt when we can look at the circumstance around us and still say “My hope is in the Lord and his plan for me is unswerving.” I am not saying that is the magic cure for the circumstances to change, but I do believe that by looking to God rather than outwardly to the world, or from within ourselves, we will know what it is to trust in God and be at peace. As is God’s command to us:
Be still, and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10).
The beautiful truth about knowing God is that he can be trusted to take on our hopes and fears, whatever it is that we hold dear or that might cause us to run to Him. King David understood what it meant to be content; he did not pretend to have all the answers but he certainly knew and declared the Truth:
My heart is not proud, LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content. Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore. Psalm 131:1-3
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