'You have taken refuge in the Lord. You are a "refugee." You fled for your life and found every sort of aid and protection in Jesus. In September 2005, hundreds of thousands of people were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Many escaped with nothing and lost everything. They were vulnerable. They needed food, housing. medical care, clothes, money, police protection, a new start. But a public official caused an uproar whne he referred to the evacuees as "refugees." The term was seen as demeaning. It called to mind the degraded conditions in refugee camps for those fleeing genocide in Sudan or Rwanda.
Refugee might conote degradation; but in Christ it becomes an affirmation of glory and hope. We are refugees. The Bible turns many typical associations upside down. Words for degradation and powerlessness - "slave, crucifixion, child, weakness" - invert into symbols of joy. A refugee absolutely depends on outside mercies. And you have found all you need and more than you could ever imagine in the Lord, the only true refuge. The opposite of a refugee? It is the current cultural ideal: self-confidence, self-sufficiency, independence, right of ownership, freedom to boldly assert your opinions, freedom to do what you want as long as it doesn't hurt someone else.'
David Powlison, 'God's Grace and Your Sufferings' in Piper & Taylor, Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, p.152.
