Hey there, and welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our reading titled Our Refuge was written by John Blaze.

A place where the buffalo roamed in North America.

That's truly what it was in the beginning. The Plains

Indians followed bison there until settlers moved in with herds and crops. The land was later

used as a chemical manufacturing site after Pearl Harbor during World War II. Then even later

for Cold War weapon demilitarization. But then one day, a roost of bald eagles

was discovered there. And soon, the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge was born.

A 15,000 acre expanse of prairie, wetland, and woodland habitat on the edges of the metropolis

of Denver, Colorado. It's now one of the largest urban refuges or sanctuaries in the country,

a safe, protected home for more than 300 species of animals, from black-footed ferrets to burrowing owls to bald eagles,

and, you guessed it, roaming buffalo. The psalmist tells us that God is our refuge.

Far greater than any earthly place of refuge, God is our true sanctuary, a safe, protected presence in whom we live and move

and have our being. He's our refuge in whom we can place our trust at all times. And he's our sanctuary,

where we can boldly bring all our prayers, pouring out our hearts.

God is our refuge. That's who he was in the beginning, who he is now, and who he always will be.

Today's Our Daily Bread Devotional Scripture reading is from Psalm 62 verses 5 through 8.

Yes, my soul, find rest in God.

My hope comes from Him.

Truly, he is my rock and my salvation.

He is my fortress. I will not be shaken.

My salvation and my honor depend on God.

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