Seeking Refuge in God Requires Heaven-Mindedness

“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living!

Wait for the Lord;

Be strong, and let your heart take courage;

wait for the Lord!”

Psalm 27:13-14 (ESV)

I came across this Psalm as I was reading through God’s word a few mornings ago, and I was absolutely struck by these two verses. Just the thought of the Lord’s goodness, His infinite, incomprehensibly abounding, perfect, merciful, pure, goodness, becoming visible to my eyes because it is present in my life is an astounding thought. The Lord will make His good works known, and these works will not die without victory in the land where there is only death and despair but will thrive and reign in the land of the living, just as “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it: (John 1:5). David explains in this Psalm to God that He is hiding from his enemies who surround him and seek to harm him. He needs God’s help and refuge, so he says he must wait for the Lord. But why is David telling us to wait for the Lord? Isn’t the Lord always present with us (Joshua 1:9)? The Lord is indeed always with us and always at work to accomplish His plan in our lives (Proverbs 16:9), but David is talking about having a heart hopeful for what is yet to come - both a hope for light in the present darkness that he is searching for and a hope for the joyful future day of being with God in heaven, freeing us from our sin that brings such sorrow and the darkness of the world in our lives (Revelation 21:4). This is a heavenly-minded hope, a hope that is not focused on the momentary pleasures of the world but desires the things above where Christ is seated (Colossians 3:1). Without this hope we will wither in the overwhelming trials of the present.

Yet we do not need to give into the despair of withering away in the land of the dying, for it is out of this hope for that day that we will be in heaven with Him as new creations who no longer sin that we persevere in our faith and wait for the Lord as David instructs us in Psalm 27, for “here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14). So God is so kind and gracious to His children that He not only promises us that “He will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore” (Revelations 21:4) because we will be in a land free from sin in His holy presence, but He has provided hope that brings us out of the darkness of today. David feared that his enemies would end his life, yet his hope that he would see the goodness of God in the land of the living gave him strength and courage to face the trials that meet him moment by moment.

How do we see God’s goodness? David answers this when he cries out “How abundant is Your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear You and worked for those who take refuge in You” (Psalm 31:19). God has goodness kept in heaven that is meant to deliver those who seek him and take refuge in Him. So will pondering the goodness of God and a future of heaven with Him solve all my problems? No, this does not mean that focusing on the things above or trying to keep “positive-thinking” will make life easy, but as the well-known preacher Charles Spurgeon once said, “Oh brethren, be great believers! Little faith will bring your souls to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to your souls,” so the great joy of remembering our good Shepherd and Father is beyond comparison with earthly trials we face (Williams 19). This is why we are able to rejoice even in times of uncertainty and sorrow (2 Corinthians 6:10): our trials do not remove the fact that out of His mercy and goodness, He has provided us with a way of salvation from all our sins, deserving of God’s wrath, through Christ, who will never leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6, Isaiah 62:11-12). Even in a world filled with anxiety, car accidents, chronic illness, death, murder, deceit, and many forms of suffering and sin, all of these problems will one day fade away. For “the young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing” (Psalm 34:10). He will provide exactly what is needed for those who seek Him, though this often looks different than what we believe we need (how often do we look back at trials from years ago to realize it brought us closer to God? (James 1:2)).

So how do we make sure we are seeking Him? Not just when we wake up or right before bed, Sundays at church, or talking with our small group, but constantly throughout the day? In fact, making it the focus of our day? Scott Hubbard, an editor for the Desiring God website, provides us with biblical answers for how to have “heavenly habits” to focus on the things above and grow stronger in faith. He explains first that we must ponder the things above and our need for God through prayer as we ask Him to “give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). He also points out that we must be meditating on what God says through the bible all throughout the day. Meditating on the scripture even when we’re not reading it requires that we know it, so we must read it well and read it often (both day and night (Psalm 1:1-2)), not just give it a quick skim so we can pat ourselves on the back that we got scripture reading out of the way for the day. Finally, Hubbard suggests that we fill our spare time, even if it is only seconds or minutes, in the midst of our days to take this time to meditate on the scripture or talk to God in prayer. It is important to note that becoming more heavenly-minded is by the Holy Spirit working in us and transforming our hearts first. We could do all sorts of external activities to make us “pure” or try our best to keep our thoughts in check, but even then our hearts and minds could still be hardened and godless in our vain human strength and will without the initial work of the Holy Spirit (Proverbs 1:7, Psalm 39:5, Ezekiel 36:26). So trust above all that it is God who produces the fruit of heavenly-mindedness in you, so that you have no room to boast in your own strength (Jeremiah 9:23-24, 1 Corinthians 1:30-31).

If you know Him, seek Him. If you don’t know Him, seek Him. His goodness He has stored up for those who seek Him is greater than anything we are facing now or will ever face, and this reminder of what is in store for us with Him in heaven will give us great strength and courage moment by moment by His grace working in us.

Works Cited

Williams, William. Personal Reminiscences of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. 2nd ed., London, The Religious Tract Society, 1895.

Hubbard, Scott. “Set Your Mind on Things Above”. Desiring God, March 1, 2021, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/set-your-mind-on-things-above.