1 I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart;
    I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and rejoice in you;
    I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.

3 My enemies turn back;
    they stumble and perish before you.
4 For you have upheld my right and my cause,
    sitting enthroned as the righteous judge.
5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
    you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
6 Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies,
    you have uprooted their cities;
    even the memory of them has perished.

7 The Lord reigns for ever;
    he has established his throne for judgment.
8 He rules the world in righteousness
    and judges the peoples with equity.
9 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
    a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 Those who know your name trust in you,
    for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you. NIVUK

What words are these in verses 9,10! What precious promises!! The idea is that God never has forsaken those who seek Him and never will. They show who God is and what we may do because of who He is. Alec Motyer points out that ”refuge” and ”stronghold” are the same word, stressing (inaccessible) height, ‘top-security’.

This is how they are translated by Eugene Peterson in ‘The Message’:

”God’s a safe-house for the battered,
    a sanctuary during bad times.
The moment you arrive, you relax;
    you’re never sorry you knocked.”

All who know about the heart of prayer – not just saying prayers – will recognise the truth of this. Life can beat you up, but there is a Sanctuary.

‘There is a place of quiet rest,
near to the heart of God;
a place where sin cannot molest,
near to the heart of God.

O Jesus, blest Redeemer,
sent from the heart of God,
hold us, who wait before Thee,
near to the heart of God.

There is a place of comfort sweet,
near to the heart of God;
a place where we our Saviour meet,
near to the heart of God.

There is a place of full release,
near to the heart of God;
a place where all is joy and peace,
near to the heart of God’ (Cleland Boyd MacAfee).

Of course, it is wonderful to know that we can run to the Lord in the day of trouble. But how much better it is to understood that we live in Him. God is not a temporary Sanctuary, but our true home.