“You would shame the plans of the poor, but the Lord is his refuge.” Psalm 14:6 Nine hundred years after David wrote those words, the Lord Jesus said, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8) His Apostle Paul also wrote, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14) The year that I was born, Jim Elliot was getting his young family ready to go to Ecuador to reach the Huaorani (Auca) people for Christ. His friends told him he was a fool and his life would be wasted. His reply was, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Four years later, Jim and four other missionaries were murdered on a riverbank in the jungle by the people they sought to save, but many of those very people are in heaven today because of Jim and His family. Jim Elliot lived and died, seeing the invisible reality that his friends couldn’t see. People who don’t know the Lord don’t understand the way that Christians think. It goes with the territory; they can’t see the invisible things that we see by faith. They will make fun of us, ridicule our reasoning, and say we’re being foolish. The Lord told us it would be this way, but He also said that “He is our refuge.” When your friends think you’re a fool for following Jesus and taking God at His Word, take your refuge in Him. Remember this promise; it helps us keep our priorities straight. Lord Jesus, I take my refuge in You. My life and my reputation are safe with You. I know Your way is perfect, and Your thoughts are higher than man’s. Lead me by Your Word; give me the comfort of Your Holy Spirit as I build my life on things eternal. Amen.
Pastor Daniel Giles
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