I’ll never forget the day that I challenged my older, and much bigger, brother to a fight. I was about 13 and he about 17 and he outweighed me be by about 75 pounds of pure muscle. But you know how brotherhood goes, I apparently thought that risking death by pummeling was a viable option for whatever he had done to me. Rational thought right? I guess my mind was still developing at 13.
As we were arguing, it escalated, and I saw an opening. With a jab Muhammad Ali would have been pleased with, I caught him right in the nose. As soon as my fist flew, I knew my plan B had to be much more creative than just stay and fight. I knew a retreat was in my very near future. The second my fist returned to me I was gone. My synapses firing wildly, I was in search of refuge, a safe place. The bathroom! It would fit my needs because there was a door on it and that door had a lock. Ahhh, a place where I could find safety from the sure doom that was before me. I ran into the bathroom with my brother in hot pursuit and luckily I had just enough time to slam the door and hit the single button lock before the storm hit. As he arrived at the door, the thunder hit, literally, as he hit the door with brute force. Oops, the wooden hollow core door split. Luckily not all the way through like Jack Nicholson in The Shining...but almost. Oh no, now we had done it, the two young males had now summoned the alpha male into this fight, our Dad. But that’s a story for another day. Oh, the sweet memories of youth.
As we mature and age though, we find rather rudely at times that life is indeed more complicated than we thought it was growing up. The world and the people within it have the innate ability to beat us up, hurt our feelings and at times poke at our hearts. Do you know what we need in this world? A place of refuge. A place to be safe. A place where we can go to find peace and solitude from this mean ol’ world. I mean Superman had the fortress of solitude and Batman had the Bat Cave. Even Shrek had his secluded muddy swamp. But where is our true place of refuge in this world?
Today we are on the second to the last chapter of Numbers, chapter 35. In this chapter we find one of the most fascinating provisions from God, cities of refuge. The city of refuge had one purpose only, to be a place where a wrongfully convicted murderer could go and not be executed but be safe. You see, if you murdered someone, God’s law called for you to then be murdered by the one seeking revenge for that murder.
“Or if he struck him down with a wooden (or iron or stone) tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death.” Num 35:18-19
It was a very simple, yet effective law God had in place. If you murdered someone’s son, the dad would hunt you down and kill you as you had killed his son. If you murdered someone’s dad, the son would more than likely find you and execute the same act upon you, death. But what if it was truly an accident? What if you were chopping wood in the forest and your ax head flew off and hit your work partner in the head and killed him? Very, very unfortunate, but truly not your fault. But yet, as the family heard of this, out of their anger and hurt, they would surely assume it was murder and they would seek to kill you as the law allowed. The person in danger could flee to the nearest city of refuge and live there in safety. In fact, the entire scenario mentioned above is in fact directly from God’s Word:
“For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life.” Deuteronomy 19:5
There was not just one or two cities of refuge, but six. (Num 35:13-15) If you found yourself in this unfortunate wood chopping position you need only locate the nearest city of refuge and flee there. Another unfortunate product of this situation is that you would have to stay in the city of refuge until the high priest died and that could be a while. The cost of refuge was high, requiring you to leave your family and community in a mad rush.
When we served in Hawaii, it was fascinating to learn that they had actual historical cities of refuge on many of the islands that you could still visit. A “kapu” was a sin in the Hawaiian culture and violating a kapu was punishable by death. But if you made it to the refuge city you would be spared. But an island in the middle of the Pacific offered its own barriers to refuge. One city of refuge on the big island of Hawaii was located on a peninsula and only offered entry by crossing a shark infested bay. First an accidental death at your hands and now a swim with sharks, talk about a bad day.
Today, we of course no longer have anything such as cities of refuge. If you break a law, you will pay the price no matter where you flee. Even strict extradition laws are in place. If they can find you, the authorities will bring you back to the place of your crime and administer justice. But just because the cities no longer exist does not mean we no longer need refuge. As we feel persecuted by the world where do we go for safety? As we feel downtrodden from walking the weary road of life, where can we go for peace? As satan attacks our ministries, marriages and families, where can we go for mercy, encouragement and strength? Folks, cities of refuge may have disappeared, but the refuge of God and our need for it has not.
“My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the strength of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior, from violent people you save me.” 2 Sam 22:3
“Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusts in you, in the shadow of your wings I will make my refuge, until the storms of destruction pass by.” Psalm 57:1
“Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.” Psalm 62:8
Today, the Lord Jesus Christ is your refuge. He is your safety. He is your strength. He is your protection. He is your advocate. He is your shelter during the storm. He is your counselor. He is your Savior. But folks just as we saw with the sanctuary cities, you had to know where they were, and you then had to run to them. Today, know that God is there for you. The one great constant in this world is that God never moves, never changes and never forsakes us. He is there as your refuge today and He will be there as your refuge tomorrow. As you recognize His constant presence as your Savior, then run to Him. Just as you were being pursued by someone that wanted your very life, run to Him for refuge. Run to Jesus today. He is there to be your refuge, but you must be the one to run to Him, not the opposite way around.
I encounter people weekly in ministry that deeply know their need for God and know that God is there for them, but they struggle greatly with the act of picking up that first foot to move towards Him. Whether it be anger, past hurts or lack of trust and faith, they know they need His refuge, but they just won’t run for it. How silly would it be to have your axe head fly off and not run for the safety of the refuge city? Folks, don’t make that mistake today out of pride. Realize the danger you are in and run for the safety of the open arms of Jesus Christ. He is the only true refuge you will find in this world.
I pray today that you find His refuge. It’s found on your knees in heart-felt prayers to Him. It’s found in the daily study of His life giving Holy Word. You’ll find it in serving Him through serving others. You’ll find the refuge of Jesus as you kneel before His glory and give your heart to Him. The refuge of Jesus is before you, make a run for it.
God Bless you today as you run for the open arms of Jesus.
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