God Our Refuge, a prayer in overwhelming circumstances (CCAR 1923)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Unknown and Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR]

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16 February 2026 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

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20th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, protection, teḥinot in English

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	The Lord also will be a high tower for the oppressed, A high tower in time of trouble; And they that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee; For Thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee. (Psalms 9:10-11)
	Keep me, O God; for I have taken refuge in Thee. I have said unto the Lord: ‘Thou art my Lord; I have no good but in Thee’; (Psalms 16:1-2)
	God is our refuge and our strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth do change, And though the mountains be moved into the heart of the seas; (Psalms 46:2-3)
	Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose trust the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out its roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but its foliage shall be luxuriant; and shall not be anxious in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. (Jeremiah 17:7-8)
	The noblest fruit of the tree of prayer is communion with God, which, when a man partaketh of it, bringeth life eternal. Now behold the words of the prophet Jeremiah: Blessed is the man that trusteth in God, he shall be like a tree, that will not fear heat or drought, and will never cease from bearing fruit. Behold he compareth reliance upon God to a well planted tree, which sendeth forth its roots by the streams of faith. Such a soul will not worry over the misfortunes of the time; it will never cease to bear the noblest of fruits; fellowship with God, and life in the radiance of Divine Glory. (adapted from Aqedat Yitsḥaq 58.1.5 by Isaac Arama)
	We can not maintain for ever the valor of our hopefulness. Some day, the sun suddenly becomes overcast, the winds rise ominously. The tempest of trouble bursts in full fury over the ship of life, and all of our fond hopes for a peaceful voyage seem to have vanished for ever. No heart can be made proof against storms. Misery and disappointments will surely come to every man. On those dark days, the success upon which we have proudly relied seems to be trivial, and even our smallest failures seem to grow to disastrous size.
	When despair enters the heart, no human aid can wholly expel it. The sun of life has become darkened, what can restore the light? We lack the power to reason our way back to courage. Our vision is now blinded. We are afraid and impatient. No argument, no human encouragement will avail. We need a refuge, a quiet land-locked harbor, where, in the serene presence of infinity, we can find rest.
	To rest in the Lord, we must first earnestly seek the eternal Refuge. The Lord of Peace has, indeed, the blessing of peace for us, but He does not burden us with unsought comfort. His words will renew hope, but we must first listen eagerly before He speaks to us. We must yearn for Him, and turn to Him, and seek Him in times of despair. Having found Him we will have found peace; and having rested in the peace of His presence, found serenity of mind and hope renewed.
	Heavenly Father, we seek refuge in Thee. We seek rest and peace for we are tossed by storms. We seek strength and courage, for we have lost hope. Days have come when only Thou canst help us. Be Thou with us when our days darken; when our toil seems vain, and our friends a away; when we are alone and have none but Thee.
	We remember Thy words of old: “Seek Me and live.” Keep within us, O our Father, the thirst to know Thee, that we may ever seek Thee. Sorrow and disappointments have humbled us. O be Thou near to the broken and the contrite heart. We search for Thee; bring us into Thy presence. None can aid but Thee; send us Thy help. We trust in Thee for ever. Amen.

“God Our Refuge” is the tenth prayer found in ברכה ותהלה Blessing and Praise: A Book of Meditations and Prayers for Individual and Home Devotion (CCAR 1923), pp. 38-40. Unfortunately, we do not yet know of a resource providing clear attribution of authorship for any of the prayers in this volume.

Source(s)

Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

Unknown

Sometimes the best we can do in attributing a historical work is to indicate the period and place it was written, the first prayer book it may have been printed in, or the archival collection in which the manuscript was found. We invite the public to help to attribute all works to their original composers. If you know something not mentioned in the commentary offered, please leave a comment or contact us.

Central Conference of American Rabbis [CCAR]

The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada.

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." (Psalms 90:17)

God Our Refuge, a prayer in overwhelming circumstances (CCAR 1923)

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