When Life Get’s Hard, Run to the Refuge

Grove Family,

I've had one idea rolling around in my heart all week, and I can't shake it: God is my refuge.

I've been sitting in Psalm 91, and the word refuge keeps stopping me. It's easy to read that as God offering comfort from a safe distance — a nice sentiment for a hard day. But that's not what the psalm says. It says God himself is the safe place. He's the shelter, the fortress, the shield, the covering. Refuge isn't a feeling He sends us; it's a Person we run to.

If I'm honest, that's not usually my first move. When the pressure builds, I try to appease my pain with almost anything else first — distraction, control, busyness, a hundred little counterfeit shelters the world keeps advertising. We go looking for peace everywhere but the Lord, and then wonder why we still feel exposed.

Here's what Psalm 91 holds out to us instead — refuge that is:

• Protection — God as our shelter, fortress, shield, and covering.
• Trust — refuge only happens when we actually choose Him as our security.
• Presence — safety comes from being with God, not from our circumstances finally cooperating.
• Deliverance — the psalm names the real stuff (danger, fear, sickness, violence, spiritual attack) and then says God is greater than all of it.
• Rest — refuge is the place where fear finally loses its grip on your heart.

And here's the piece that surprised me this week. My reading plan carried me into the first two chapters of James, where he says to "consider it pure joy" when we face trials, because trials are what develop our faith (James 1:2–4). That's a hard sentence to swallow. But sit with it next to Psalm 91 and something clicks: the very trials we'd never choose are often the thing that finally drives us into the refuge we were made for. Comfort rarely sends us running to God. Trouble does. So as strange as it is to say — a trial can be a gift, because it moves us from admiring the shelter to actually living inside it. After the week I had, this is something that my soul desperately needed to hear.

I don’t know what type of season that you find yourself in, but let the Lord be the refuge that you're so desperately craving/needing.

A big week before school starts

As we head into the last full week of summer, here are a few ways to jump in — and one honest request. Rapid Fire:

1. Feed our teachers & school staff. This week we're serving meals to teachers and staff at several of our local schools, and we'd love some extra hands. Sign up here: churchatthegrove.com/sign-ups
2. Family Movie Night — this Wednesday. Both campuses are gathering at our Walnut Grove campus for a free Family Movie Night. Bring the kids, bring your students, bring a blanket and a friend — we'll bring the popcorn.
3. Jump Sunday — this coming Sunday. We'll celebrate our kids and students moving up to their next grade. It's a blast and you don’t want themto miss it.
4. Prayer over our Social Circle schools — next Sunday, 6–7 PM. Come pray with us over our Social Circle schools. This takes the place of our normal monthly prayer night — there is no regular prayer night at the Social Circle campus this Thursday.
5. Social Circle: staying at one service. We shared this morning that, thanks to some building modifications to make room for more kids, we'll be staying at one service rather than returning to two. Thank you for your flexibility — we may need to adjust again down the road, and we'll keep you posted. See you at 10am!
6. A request: we need more volunteers. As a new school year kicks off, we're always in need of more hands in our kids and student ministries. If you feel led, would you prayerfully consider serving? Sign up here: https://www.churchatthegrove.com/ministries/serve

Let's pray together this week

• Continued prayer for our Social Circle Student Director and Production Director searches.
• As we move into the fall, ask the Lord to bless our ministry efforts.
• Pray that more people in our church would get engaged and serve.

A resource worth your time

This morning at Social Circle I mentioned a book that was genuinely instrumental in my own development: "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper. I'd highly encourage you to pick up a copy. Or, if you'd rather watch the message that inspired the book, it's right here: https://youtu.be/XajXpH908Yg

Grateful for you, church. He is our refuge — let's run to Him together this week.

— Nathan