FORTRESS

"But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.
O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love."  Psalm 59:16-17 (ESV)

This morning in our morning worship after breakfast, we read Psalm 59.  Today when we read the psalm I was struck by the idea of fortress.  What is a fortress?

Dictionary.com gives these two definitions of fortress:  1. a large fortified place; a fort or

group of forts, often including a town; citadel.  2.  any place of exceptional security; stronghold.

The psalm says that God is the fortress of the psalm writer.  Looking at the above definitions it seems obvious that the second definition is closer to what the psalmist is thinking.  

God is indeed the place of exceptional security.  He is a stronghold.  He is impregnable.  When we are in God, our fortress, we need not fear the enemy.  

The enemy will constantly attack our fortress.  We will face the flaming darts of the evil one.  He will try to lure us from our stronghold, our fortress.

As long as we stay in the fortress, we will be conquerors.  We need to keep our focus on our fortress.  If we stray, we are in grave danger.  

We might be tempted to believe that we are strong and can fight the evil one alone.  This is the pride that comes before a fall.  We are weak and hopeless outside of our fortress.

As Christians we also have a fortress that might be defined as the first definition; a large fortified place.  We have the body of Christ, the church.  Being a part of the body gives us strength.  We have each other's back.  We help each other stay in the fortress and resist the evil one.  We have even more to rejoice in than the psalmist had.  Just as the writer rejoiced in God, his fortress, and sang of God's strength and steadfast love, we can do the same.  We praise God and rejoice in the body of Christ.  

Stay in the fortress!  Don't wander away!  Sing praises to God, our fortress!

Search the term fortress in your Bible study program and you will find many times when God's people recognized God as their fortress.

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