World’s largest frying pan? This means war!

Let’s take a look at the following Bible verse:

I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Psalm 91:2 ESV

Trusting in God means making his plan my plan. It doesn’t mean just handing him the steering wheel and reclining the seat as if it were in auto-drive mode. It doesn’t even mean, “Give it a little gas and let God steer.” God did not design us to be passengers. He designed us to be the driver—and every good driver knows that how you get to the destination matters just as much as arriving there.

“How you get to the destination matters just as much as arriving there“

Let God navigate. Not trusting the navigator means that sometimes we’ll override his suggestions. Drivers do it all the time when the person looking at the map tells them exactly where to go. If you have a bad navigator, you’ll look over to the person holding the map and say, “See, I told you so. My way is better.” The thing is, God is not a bad navigator. You will never look over to God and say, “See God, my shortcut was better than your long way.”

Roadside Attractions?

You might even say that, as a driver, your side trips were worthwhile. You got to see the world’s largest frying pan or some other Guinness Book of World Records attraction. Was that really a good use of your time? Did you really need to see that? No. That’s like trying to convince everyone that you enjoyed your struggles in life because they made you into who you are. It’s true that those side adventures shaped you and molded you and made you who you are, but it’s a blatant lie that you enjoyed any of it. If refined-silver could feel pain, do you think it would enjoy the scalding fire that expelled its imperfections, the dross? If you could travel back in time I know you’d tell yourself, “There’s a better course to take. Please, please, PLEASE just pay attention to the navigator!”

“Complete trust in where God points you to go will make for a much smoother journey.”

Wouldn’t it be funny to have the understanding with God that you needed refinement? He would tell you where you needed to go knowing you would choose something different? He knew that the hardships experienced after getting off the beaten path would shape you enough to know that next time you would trust your navigator, your God? He’s not keeping secret which way is the right way. He’s been telling you this whole time. He hasn’t changed his guidance. All he needed was for you to get to a point where you trusted him. That’s all. Complete trust in where God points you to go will make for a much smoother journey. This means that you’ll get to where you need to be faster and now you’ll know the way and can show others.

Now, if I have a refuge and it looks like a fortress, wouldn’t I be at peace? If I am not at peace, then perhaps a closer examination of how much I really do trust God is in order. A refuge is not always a fortress. This one is. I’m looking to escape a prison of sin of my own construction. Now, a refuge could have been just a place I’d escape to that was safe only because it went unseen. So then I’d try not to be too loud and try not to draw attention to myself and just hunker down and wait for the storm to pass—if it ever does come to pass. It could simply be a defensive position without any defensive measures of protection. A refuge without teeth is simply a hiding place.

“A refuge without teeth is simply a hiding place.“

This is war and we are under attack

This is a military operation, hence the fortress. So what exactly does a fortress do? It resists outside attacks while keeping everything within its walls safe. Safe from what? Who is attacking? Some would suggest it’s good enough just to know that there is an enemy lurking and we must try to know everything about this enemy so we can be ready for anything thrown at us—but that could sound like an invitation to get to know evil and how it operates. Following this line of thought, we can know what it looks like and squash it preemptively before it strikes us. That sounds pretty crummy. I would rather know intimately what is righteous in God’s eyes and understand that anything different is the enemy. Knowing my ally identifies my enemy.

Yes, there is an enemy that is looking to destroy us. But if the enemy knows our weaknesses then we simply need to know the enemy’s weaknesses as well—nothing more. Basically, set up our defensive strategy by knowing what character flaws or addictions or attractions or desires the enemy looks for in us. We know that the enemy is foolish enough to not fear God (Isaiah 14:12–15), which becomes his greatest weakness. That’s how we can fortify. If God is our fortress, then all we have to do is simply hunker down inside our Godly fortress and call it a day because God’s got this. But that doesn’t sound right, either. Why are we even here if not to do some fighting?

We can’t be leaving the drawbridge open and still expect to rid ourselves of the danger that ruthlessly attacks from all sides. Non-action while embracing that “God’s got this” seems a lot like resignation or even cowardice. Remember, he’s the navigator, not the driver—the fortress, not the soldier on its walls (2 Timothy 2:4). It’s not about faith trumping works, it’s about faith resulting in works—producing in us the insatiable desire to please God in all that we do because we trust him absolutely with our lives. (see Ephesians 2:8–9 and Hebrews 11:1 et al.)

“It’s not about faith trumping works, it’s about faith resulting in works“

The part of Psalm 91:2 that might get overlooked is its bookends. I’ll put them in ALL CAPS for emphasis:

I WILL SAY TO THE LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, IN WHOM I TRUST.”

When anyone says anything to God, they are having a conversation. They are talking and getting to know him—revealing things about themselves and being open and vulnerable so that they may learn more about who God is. Notice I didn’t say that God is getting to know anything about the person speaking to him. Nothing said in confidence to God is ever a surprise to him. Since God already knows us, he simply wants us to know him. The things “I will say to the Lord” become foundational to building a relationship with God. It is fellowship with God. In other words, it is prayer.

Can we win?

A powerful prayer will make the spirit groan (Romans 8:26-27). Even if we don’t know what to pray for, that’s okay. God knows what we need before we even ask (Matthew 6:8). Through prayer, we get to know who God is and we get to trust in God’s plan for us. So how do we defend this fortress from the enemy? By knowing that the enemy has the foolishness to not fear God, but he should—so we target that as his weakness. (Isaiah 14:12–15). Trusting in God means obeying his will. When we do all that is righteous in God’s eyes, we walk with God. When we walk with God, nothing can defeat us (2 Corinthians 4:8-10). We pray and we trust and we obey. Spoiler alert: we win.

“We pray and we trust and we obey.“