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through edification . This is the affirma- tive theology of refuge .
Even the terrors of one’s life are from an all-loving, sovereign God . There- fore, it is no longer a question of, “how can I sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” but an affirmation of, “I will sing the Lord’s song, even in a strange land, because even the strange land is His .” Terror, in view of God’s ‘edifying love’, is God’s grace-action to bring us back into His abode of communion (‘ref- uge’) . Thus, even in the absence of evil, ‘refuge in God’ becomes our natural ex- istential orientation, because His edify- ing love inspires a reverential fear (over against an insecure fear) that inspires us to be “found in Him .” God is indeed our eternal refuge .
A Christian theology of refuge sprouts from “where I am” and not from “what I see .” The Old Testament idea of “God is our refuge” is closely associated, either explicitly or implicitly, with the idea of God as one’s “dwelling place” (cf . Ps . 18:2; 90:1; 91:1,2,9; 2 Sam . 22:3; Ruth 2:12) . The New Testament equivalent may be seen in the repeated phrase “in Christ” (en Christo), where ‘in Christ’ means more than mere religious affili- ation; it is a phrase of both spiritual as well as existential refuge rooted in our relationship with the crucified . This means that even when I see the peren- nial ebb and flow of struggles, I don’t have to escape into something, for I am already in my refuge (en Christo) . The simple act of kneeling in prayer, irre- spective of the geographical location, encapsulates all the marvelous wonder, which is to find refuge in Christ .
While the Scriptures talk about “dwelling in God and in Christ” as
a language of refuge, along with it emerges the inside-out dimension of refuge – “God dwells in us .” Psalm 46, a psalm of refuge, talks of “God is with- in her, she will not fall” (46:5a; also cf . John 14:18ff, 15:4ff, 17:22ff) . Here the language of refuge, ‘God as the dwell- ing place,’ is metamorphosed into ‘God as the Dweller’, and we are figured as the ‘dwelling place’ . A Christian theol- ogy of refuge finds its bedrock on this ‘in Him-in us’ dwelling relationship; seeing ‘refuge in God’ as a function of ‘communion with God .’ The theology of refuge is a call to make our nest (nest- euo) with God .
In conclusion, a sound theology of refuge will be close to the affirmative theology of refuge over and above the dialectical theology of refuge . This af- firmative theology of refuge begins with the sovereign God who is all-loving and all-knowing, where our perceivable ter- rors are but His opportunities to demon- strate an edifying love that calls us into Him to be in communion with Him . In responding, we surrender ourselves to His love-call of conformation, through suffering, knowing that we are, even in our pain, en Christo (‘in Christ’) and He is in us . “For in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28a) .
The confession of God as the Good Shepherd of the “green pastures and still waters” is reaffirmed in our dec- laration that He is the good Shepherd even of “the valley of the shadow of death .” He is our refuge in every realm of our journey as we reach the house of God and dwell there, with Him forever (cf . Psalm 23) . n
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