W K Tweedie
Isaiah 28:15. We have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.
Is it not a lie to think that we can resist Omnipotence and prosper? Is it not a lie to suppose that we can rush upon the bosses of Jehovah’s buckler2 and escape unscathed? Is it not a lie to act as if what the Holy One pronounces to be “filthy rags” could suffice for a protection in the day when He arises to judgement? Is it not a lie to think that anything created can satisfy the soul, though we feel that it melts away while we try to grasp it? Is it not a lie to suppose that sin can afford pleasure to the soul, while it draws down the wrath of God and ripens us for everlasting burnings?
Yet these, and such as these, are the delusions to which men cling. To these they flee, in the hope that they can find a refuge there from Him whose eyes are as a flame of fire. A converted Chinese man once said that he might as well seek shelter from a thunderbolt behind his own shadow, as seek shelter from the justice of God behind his own righteousness. And will that man not rise up in judgement against those who seek a refuge in lies?
But bless the Lord, O my soul. He who is the Truth has been here. He came to withdraw us from our refuges of lies, by showing how they crumble above us and threaten to bury us in their ruins. He answered the question, “What is truth?” by the announcement, “I am the Truth” – the truth concerning God, the truth concerning man, and the truth concerning the way to make them walk together like those who are agreed. Have you then, O my soul, learned this truth, and has it made you free? Are the devices of the evil heart and of the father of lies now an abomination to you? Then the Spirit of truth has led you to the God of truth. No refuge of lies will satisfy you. The Rock that is higher than we are will be your confidence, and “a Man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land”.
1Taken, with editing, from Tweedie’s volume, Glad Tidings of the Gospel of Peace.
2That is, the studs on Jehovah’s shield.