A City Of Refuge

[Christ4Ever]

Then you must set apart three cities of refuge in the land the LORD your God is giving you. Deuteronomy 19:2 NLT

God established cities of refuge to protect people from the judgments of others.

If a man committed a crime by accident, God did not want him punished as if he had committed the crime with forethought. God knew that for a variety of reasons humans condemn each other far too quickly. Sometimes those who judge are motivated by jealousy, other times by self-interest, and other times by a desire to see someone humbled. People jump to the wrong conclusions for all the wrong reasons.

The cities of refuge provided a place for people to run for protection. The cities welcomed the fearful, the wronged, and the misunderstood.

God is all about refuge. In Luke 9 the wronged and misunderstood came to Jesus who welcomed and fed them. When the writer of Psalm 66 concludes, “Praise be to God, who has not rejected by prayer or withheld his love from me!” (Psalm 66:20 NIV), it is clear he found refuge in the same accepting and loving God.

Are you a person of refuge? Are you like an established city where wronged and misunderstood family members, neighbors, friends, and coworkers can find protection? The world still needs places and people of refuge.

Prayer: Lord, help me make myself available to someone who needs a place of refuge today.

 

[Brother-Paul]

Thank you for your words of encouragement brother.

The Word, warns us, many times, about judging others.

Matthew 7:1-6 (NKJV)
1 "Judge not, that you be not judged.
2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?
5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
6 Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.

Luke 6:37-38 (NKJV)
37 "Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."

Psalm 75:7 (NKJV)
7 But God is the Judge: He puts down one, And exalts another.

Bless you

 

[Br. Bear]

For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Hebrews 13:14

the LORD is our refuge...

Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world.
1John 4:17