OPINION —
There are places we naturally run when life gets heavy. Maybe it’s a favorite chair, a back porch, a quiet room, a long drive, or simply shutting the door and being alone for a while. We all need places where we can breathe, think, pray and get our feet back underneath us. There’s nothing wrong with needing a place of refuge. The problem begins when refuge becomes residence.
In 1 Samuel 22, David is on the run from Saul. He has been threatened, hunted and pushed into a season of uncertainty, so he does what most of us probably would have done. He finds a stronghold, a place where he can hide, regroup and feel safe for a while. Then the prophet Gad comes to him with a message from God: “Do not stay in the stronghold.”
I’ve always thought that was an interesting instruction. David needed the stronghold, but he wasn’t meant to live there forever. The place that helped him survive for a season could eventually become the very place that kept him from moving forward.
I think we do the same thing in our own lives. Sometimes our stronghold is a physical place, but more often it’s emotional or spiritual. Fear can become a stronghold. Grief can become a stronghold. Disappointment, past failure, hurt and even comfort can all become places where we settle in and stop moving.
There are times when we absolutely need to step away and recover. Jesus understands that better than anyone. In Matthew 11:28, He says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Jesus doesn’t shame people for being tired, and He doesn’t tell the weary to simply get over it. He invites them to come near.
But Jesus doesn’t stop with rest. In the very next verse He says, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me.” That matters, because a yoke wasn’t a piece of furniture for relaxing. It was a tool for work, movement and carrying a load together.
Jesus offers rest, but He also calls us to keep walking with Him.
That’s the difference between refuge and hiding. Refuge restores us so we can move again, while hiding convinces us that staying still is the only way to stay safe. Refuge gives us strength. Hiding slowly turns fear into a way of life.
David had to leave the stronghold because God still had work for him to do. The cave had served its purpose, but if David had stayed there forever, he would have missed what God was leading him toward. Sometimes the place that protected us yesterday can become the place that limits us tomorrow.
We can become so afraid of getting hurt again that we stop trusting people. We can become so afraid of failing that we stop trying. We can become so comfortable with routine that we resist anything God might use to stretch us. Before long, what started as a place of safety becomes a place where we simply stop growing.
That’s why the greatest refuge in the Christian life isn’t really a place at all. It’s a person.
Jesus is our refuge because His presence goes with us. We don’t have to stay in the cave to know peace, and we don’t have to avoid every uncomfortable road in order to feel safe. We can move forward because Christ is with us wherever He leads.
Maybe that’s where some of us are right now. We’re tired, wounded or carrying something that has drained us for a long time. If so, hear the invitation of Jesus: “Come to Me.” Rest, pray, recover and allow Him to restore you.
But don’t confuse rest with retreat.
At some point, the same Savior who says, “Come to Me,” may also say, “Now trust Me enough to move.” You don’t have to know every step ahead, and you don’t have to feel fearless before you take the next one. You simply have to remember where your true refuge is.
Jesus is our refuge, not so we can hide forever, but so we can find the strength to follow Him again.
