IT is a beautiful word, refuge, calling up as it does a sense of security, release from fear and anxiety, and a peaceful surrender to that which protects. How often have we seen a little child run to its mother's arms for safety from fear or grief, and nestle down in sweet assurance of comfort and protection from all ill! And how often has come to us— grown-up children—when frightened, discouraged, weary of struggling with the myriad phases of mortal belief, the question, Where shall we turn? where flee for refuge?
It is interesting to trace the development of the concept of refuge throughout the Bible. The first mention of the word in the King James Version is found in the thirty-fifth chapter of Numbers. There it is recorded that, by commandment of God, Moses provided for "cities of refuge." Among the forty-eight cities given to the Levites, six were to be cities of refuge to which certain offenders might flee for safety; and their safety depended on their remaining within the boundaries of the city. Should they go outside the prescribed limits, they were no longer under the protection of the law, and would legally become the prey of their enemies.
As the understanding of God became clearer and purer, the safety of men became more apparent, more assured, more immanent, and less prescribed. David, the mighty king and warrior, weary with the weight of worldly honors, triumphs, failures, disappointments, and deceits, learned to turn to the high, simple thoughts of his shepherd days and find refuge in the Lord, the loving Shepherd of mankind. Thus he could give to us these beautiful, imperishable songs of refuge to which to-day so many turn for comfort and strength in time of trouble. Countless are the lives that have been blessed, redeemed, protected by the truth expressed in the ninety-first psalm. Isaiah, too, who caught glimpses of the coming of salvation through the spiritual idea, could sing of God as "a refuge from the storm." So, the idea of God as a refuge became ever clearer to mankind until the advent of Christ Jesus, by whom the true spiritual idea was seen in its perfection. Finding constant refuge in the spiritual truth of being, he became the Way-shower, pointing the way to salvation for the world.
