God is my refuge and my security.
1. I will identify with what I think provides me refuge and security.I
²I will see myself where I believe my strength lies, and I will think I dwell within a fortress where I am safe and cannot be attacked.
³Let me not seek security in danger today, nor try to find my peace in murderous attack.
⁴I live in God.
⁵In Him I find my refuge and my strength.II
⁶In Him lies my Identity.
⁷In Him dwells everlasting peace.
⁸And only there will I remember Who I truly am.
2. Let me not pursue idols.III
²Today I would return home to You,
my Father.
³I choose to be as You created me,
and to see the Son You created as my Self.
I It is no coincidence that after having read what the body is, you are now offered something infinitely better: to remember that your safety is in God. The great difference is that this idea is strictly true, whereas the idea of being a body was nothing but a misunderstanding.
Your mind is still dulled by the dream and cannot think clearly. It doesn’t matter. You do not need to use the mind as you now understand it—you have other resources; use the heart. The mind, seduced by separation, dreams; the heart does not—it remains awake.
Try this simple exercise in discernment:
—When you think you are a body, do you feel limited, sad, or threatened? Then it is not true.
—When you think that God is your Father, that He created you in love and cares for you eternally, do you feel peace? Then that is the truth.
You may recall that many illusions once seemed to bring you comfort but later disappointed you. It was not your heart that deceived you, but your confusion in mistaking idols for God. The yearning behind it was legitimate. Now, however, we speak of your Creator, and your heart does not err.
Your mind needs guidance, for on its own it loses itself in fears and fantasies. Therefore, rely on Jesus and on the Holy Spirit. They remind you that your refuge is in God and that your safety is invulnerable.
Ultimately, the Course has a very simple purpose: to remove your fear. Jesus speaks to a mind that dreams, to someone who is having a nightmare. He cannot awaken you by force, for your will is sacred, but He can ease your fear. And as fear weakens, it will become much easier for you to choose to awaken.
This lesson, then, is a practical strategy for releasing fear: shift your identification from what seems fragile—the body—to what is invulnerable—God and your true Self.
II Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
III Hosea 4:12 “My people seek counsel from their wooden idols, and their staff informs them; for a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, and they have played the harlot, departing from their God.”
God is my refuge and my safety.
When I rest in that idea, fear fades away.