“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are protected.” (Proverbs 18:10 CSB)
Devotional
We run to a lot of things before we run to him. Scrolling. Junk food. Alcohol. Overworking until we’re too tired to feel anything. Venting to whoever will listen first. All the smaller towers we reach for automatically when something rattles us, long before it occurs to us to run toward God specifically.
A strong tower in the ancient world was a real, physical refuge, somewhere you could run in an actual emergency and genuinely be safe once you were inside its walls. This verse doesn’t describe the righteous strolling toward it eventually, once they’ve exhausted other options. They run, urgently, the way you’d run from real danger toward the one place you already know is solid.
We know what it’s like to reach for towers that don’t actually hold, the numbing habits, the distractions, the venting that leaves us more worked up rather than less. Most of them aren’t evil in themselves. They’re just not strong enough for what we’re actually carrying, and we usually find that out after we’ve already leaned our full weight on them.
What changes is noticing which direction we run first the next time something rattles us, and choosing to run toward him earlier in that sequence rather than after everything else has already failed to hold.
God is not a tower we have to earn access to or prove ourselves worthy of running toward. He is simply there, solid, and the running itself is the whole invitation, not a test we have to pass first.
Reflection
I know exactly which smaller towers I run to first when something rattles me, and God is rarely the first stop. I don’t think that makes me unusual, but I do want it to change. I want to notice the moment I reach for the phone or the distraction and redirect that instinct toward him instead. The tower was always available. I just haven’t been running there first.
Prayer
Father, forgive us for running to smaller towers before we run to you. Thank you that your name is a genuine refuge, not one we have to earn our way into. Help us notice the instinct to reach for something else first and redirect it toward you instead. Be the strong tower we actually run to next time.