I Have Taken Refuge in The Lord

Psalm 71:1-8 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“1In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge;

let me never be put to shame.

2In Your justice, rescue and deliver me;

incline Your ear and save me.

3Be my rock of refuge,

where I can always go.

Give the command to save me,

for You are my rock and my fortress.

4Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,

from the grasp of the unjust and ruthless.

 

“5For You are my hope, O Lord GOD,

my confidence from my youth.

6I have leaned on You since birth;

You pulled me from my mother’s womb.

My praise is always for You.

7I have become a portent to many,

but You are my strong refuge.

8My mouth is filled with Your praise

and with Your splendor all day long.”

 

If we, by faith in Jesus Christ, have denied self, died to sin, and we are now walking (in conduct, in practice) in obedience to our Lord and to His commands, and if we are serving the Lord with our lives in being a witness for Him and for His gospel message, and so we are speaking the truth to the people, and not the lies which are so popularized these days, we will have enemies. We will have people who will come against us to attack us, and even to falsely accuse us of wrong we did not commit, like they did to Jesus.

 

And they may be people who are “cooking up something” against us, i.e. who have a secret plan they are working on which we cannot see. They may be plotting evil against us with the whole purpose to destroy us in some way, perhaps out of anger or resentment or bitterness or unforgiveness of some kind because of something we said or wrote or posted on the internet. We spoke the truth in love, but they did not see it as love or as truth. And so they may be plotting evil against us as a way to get even, for “payback.”

 

For, when you speak the truth of what the Scriptures teach, and you call sin what it is, and you call out sinful behaviors, and you call people to repentance and to genuine faith in Jesus Christ, you may anger some people, especially some who are still living in captivity to sin and for whom obedience to God is not what they practice, but who profess faith in Jesus Christ. For so many people today professing faith in Jesus Christ are believing in a false gospel which gives them permission to keep on in sin.

 

Psalm 71:14-19 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“14But I will always hope

and will praise You more and more.

15My mouth will declare Your righteousness

and Your salvation all day long,

though I cannot know their full measure.

16I will come in the strength of the Lord GOD;

I will proclaim Your righteousness—Yours alone.

 

“17O God, You have taught me from my youth,

and to this day I proclaim Your marvelous deeds.

18Even when I am old and gray,

do not forsake me, O God,

until I proclaim Your power to the next generation,

Your might to all who are to come.

19Your righteousness reaches to the heavens, O God,

You who have done great things.

Who, O God, is like You?”

 

When we go through trials and tribulations which test our faith, and when other humans come against us to do us harm, because they don’t like the words we are speaking, words of truth which the Lord put in our minds and hearts to speak, then we are to lean on the Lord for our support. We are to trust in the Lord to get us through it all and to provide for all that we need. For Jesus said that if we follow Him with our lives that we will be hated and persecuted as He was hated and persecuted for the sake of righteousness.

 

We should not give up out of defeat or out of fear of what others might say about us or do to us. For God has all things under His control. And He promised us that we would have times like this. So we must keep courage and keep speaking the truth of God’s word to the people, even if we are persecuted and falsely accused of wrong and cast aside as though we are worthless. We must keep declaring the righteousness and salvation of our Lord and of His requirements that we die to sin and obey His commands.

 

And I identify with the psalmist in this part. God has taught me from my youth, indeed. And I am old and graying (age 76). And I daily proclaim His marvelous deeds to the people, under His guidance and direction, and in His power, and by His grace. And I pray that I will live to continue in doing what God has called me to do each day until the day He takes me home. I pray I will be able to continue sharing the truth of the gospel with the people of the world until my work is done on this earth. And then I will be ready to go.

 

[Matthew 5:13-16; Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 9:23-26; John 4:31-38; John 10:27-30; John 13:13-17; John 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 10:14-15; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-14; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Peter 2:9,21,24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

 

I Have Taken Refuge in The Lord

An Original Work / July 31, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Should I Not Preach Jesus

 

Based off 1 Corinthians 9:16-10:13

An Original Work / July 4, 2013

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Woe to me should I not preach Jesus.

I’m compelled to preach the full gospel.

I make myself a slave to ev’ryone

To win their hearts to Christ.

All this I do for my Lord Jesus,

And for the sake of His Name;

Do it for the sake of His gospel,

So that I, its blessings gain.

 

Scripture notates the sins of others;

Written down for us as examples

To keep us from setting our hearts

On evil as did those of old.

Do not worship other gods of man;

Do not give your hearts to them;

Not partake in immorality.

Do not test your Lord and King.

 

So, be careful if you think you are

Standing firm in your faith in Jesus.                        

God has given his word to warn us,

So through faith we will not fall.

No temptation has o’ertaken you

Except what is commonplace.

God is faithful to not let you be

Tempted past what you can bear.

He gives the way of escape.

 

https://vimeo.com/116057811