“The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” Psalm 18:2
Adonijah feared for his life. He ran through the streets of Jerusalem looking over his shoulder and scanning the dusty by-ways for threats. How had it come to this? He was just enjoying a grand banquet, a celebration of the successful coup he had orchestrated to steal the throne right out from under his nemesis King David and his unworthy son Solomon. He was the one that truly deserved to be king, but his coup had been discovered and King David, on his deathbed, had quickly appointed Solomon the new king. Surely death was close now as David would seek to eliminate not only the current threat that he was, but any future threat that he might present. He needed safety, Adonijah needed a place that was safer than any other. But where? And then he recalled the power of a place that was contained in the old scrolls, the power of the horns that lied at the altar of the Lord. The scrolls said that anyone that took hold of the horns of the Lord was safe from all. It was a place of refuge, a place of safety, a place that afforded the strength of the Lord to protect whoever claimed it. And as the royal guards found Adonijah that day, holding firmly to the horns of the altar of the Lord, a guilty life was spared.
You’ve just read a true story, a dramatic telling of 1 Kings chapter 1. A story that David would have only known too well as he saw it play out years after he wrote Psalm 18. Even the truest enemies of David could find refuge in the Lord, a truth that must have struck him powerfully. And so, it is here, that David claims the same protection. In the fourth longest Psalm in the book of Psalms, David uses many different names and descriptors for God, but one, one shows the drama of just how God will protect no matter the situation, odds, danger, or condition of the heart. You see, the horns of altar were ordered by God to be a part of the tabernacle way back in Exodus 29. The four horns (Ezek. 43:15) were to be a symbol of the power of the Lord. And whomever took hold of the horns of the Lord was protected by the Lord. And in Psalm 18, we see David open the poem by calling Almighty God the horn of his Salvation. David knew that his salvation in Almighty God was just as holding onto the very horns at the altar. As he took hold of the horns of his salvation in God, he was safe, secure, and could claim peace in both. What a beautiful picture.
Today, do you know of the security of salvation in Jesus Christ? Or are you running from the world in haste and fear, looking for refuge? You see, just as in a bad dream where you are running in quicksand, never creating distance between you and the evil that seeks to claim you, you can do the same in this life. You can run and run but without a place of refuge to run to, your fleeing will be for nought. But today, I have good news, there is a place for you to run to for safety…to the arms of Jesus Christ. You see, God sent His only Son here to be the horn of salvation to this world. You can run to Christ for salvation from your sins. You can ask Him to forgive you of your sins against Him and He is faithful to forgive all that call upon His name. And as a heart calls upon Him in faith, the salvation of God will rain down upon that life, the Holy Spirit of God infiltrating it and creating a new creature where the old previously stood. And this new creature, this newly redeemed life, will now have a glorious place to run…to the open arms of Christ, the horn of salvation. Today, whatever you are facing, you can run to the horn of God and take refuge. Christ is our strength, He is our shield, He is our rock, He is our refuge. And in Him, only in Jesus Christ, can we find true solace, freedom, peace, and abundance of life. Run to the horn today and take hold, run to the arms of Christ.
“His (John the Baptist’s) father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.” Luke 1:67-69
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