by Joan Vetter

For the past several days I have endeavored to clean out my cluttered closets. It has thrust me onto an emotional journey. 

I had excellent intentions of getting rid of things, but how do you throw out a construction paper birthday card from a grandson who is now twenty-two? The front is covered with hearts, stars, and trees. Inside is written, "I love you. All of us love you. Have a great birthbay, Grandma. Love, Micah"

Then, tucked away in the box, I came upon an old journal. So for the next half hour I sit and read what I was doing and thinking in 1985. I could feel the mood again as I read: December 2: "I'm sitting by a morning fire - flaming brightly now - but had been just smoldering. As I used the bellows to blow upon the flame, the thought comes to me of how the Holy Spirit comes like a wind to blow upon the embers of our hearts causing them to be aflame with His love. I got up early this morning and had such a beautiful morning. It's been a long time since I've prayed and felt the gentle lift and peace of His presence."

Finally, after an entire day I end up with a bag of trash and a box of things to get rid of. Several times during the day I would just walk away. Deciding the fate of an item was just too difficult.

However, when I was finished there was real satisfaction in being able to know exactly what was in the closet, and having it neatly in place.

In a similar manner I am doing personal spiritual closet cleaning. I've been spending the past several weeks examining what I need to keep and what needs to be tossed out. I've been re-examining old fears, resentments and ways of reacting. What do I need to throw out? Maybe that anxiety when I start to analyze a situation rather than simply trust God? It's one thing to identify it - but another to replace it with a new way of dealing with a situation. 

With the political and financial shaking we are experiencing, we desperately need a place of refuge. I want to make sure it is not a refuge of my own making. Let's examine some refuges we might run to. First of all, ask yourself the question, "Where is the first place I turn when I'm under pressure?" 
In the book The Shack by William P. Young, Papa (God the Father) addresses Mackenzie in His all knowing way. He says, "Lies are one of the easiest places for survivors to run. It gives you a sense of safety, a place where you only have to depend on yourself. But it's a dark place, isn't it?" Then Papa challenges him with the question, "Are you willing to give up the power and safety it promises you?" 

That is our question today. Can we let go of something that ultimately isn't working for us to find the true fortress - the only fortress that will stand through the shaking of this world?

Another false refuge is depending upon people. In Jeremiah 17:5-8 we are told "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord." In contrast, verse 7 says, "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is the Lord, for he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river. And will not fear when heat comes but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought. Nor will cease from yielding fruit."

In addition, things we need to toss out of our inner closets are false concepts of who God is, and false concepts of how He sees us. Often our ideas are formed from parents or words people have spoken that are not true. An example is the comment, "God's going to get you for that." 

When we read God's word where it says, "trust in the Lord with all your heart" we need to know that He is absolutely trustworthy. 

When we read that "He is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble", we will only experience the truth of that if we give up our counterfeit places of refuge. 

Let's run into His goodness and declare His Word in Psalm 91: He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God in Him I will trust.”