Devotions for Every Day of the Year

Finding Moments of Refuge
in the Presence of God

David Jeremiah

Today’s Reading

Sanctuary
By David Jeremiah.

Copyright © 2002 by David Jeremiah. Published by Integrity Publishers, a division of Integrity Media, Inc., 5250 Virginia Way, Suite 110, Brentwood, TN 37027.

Helping people worldwide experience the manifest presence of God.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any way whatsoever, except for brief quotations in reviews, without the express written permission of the publisher.

Published in association with Yates & Yates, LLP, Literary Agents, Orange, California.

Cover design: The Office of Bill Chiaravalle, www.officeofbc.com

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations used in this book are from The New King James Version, Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Other Scripture quotations are from the following sources:
The Holy Bible, New International Version (niv), copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

The New American Standard Bible (nasb), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

The King James Version of the Bible (kjv).

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jeremiah, David.

  Sanctuary: finding moments of refuge in the presence of God / David Jeremiah

   p. cm.

  ISBN 1–59145-020–9

  1. Devotional calendars. 2. Bible—Devotional literature. I. Title.

BV4811 .J49 2002

242’.2–dc21

2002027320

to my Lord Jesus

…He is my sanctuary

and place of refuge

Introduction

You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to His people. Praise be to God!

—Psalm 68:35 niv

Finding refuge is not a concept most of us relate to in the physical sense. We have our comfortable homes and vehicles and the freedom to come and go without restraint. The physical freedom we experience can sometimes hide the emotional need for refuge until someone or something brings it all to the surface, and we can’t ignore the reality of our need. It is at this very point in time that our concept of God comes clearly into focus.

If we’re not careful we can spend all our lives around the circumference of the circle of knowing God and never actually get to the center of it. It’s easy to get caught up in the mechanics of living a Christian lifestyle and not truly understand what it means to live a Christian life.

Webster defines sanctuary as “sacred, a holy place, as a building set aside for worship, a place of refuge or protection.” In the New Testament we are told that our bodies are the temples of God. We are to live as a sanctuary of His presence.

Many Christians make the mistake of thinking that, just because they are believers in Christ, just because they read the Bible, just because they have the Holy Spirit living in them, they should be immune from ...