Safety

“Keep me safe, O God, for I have come to you for refuge.”
Psalm 16:1 NLT

A short verse this morning that starts our contemplation of Psalm 16. Safety is something we all yearn for, but in our physical lives it is not always achievable. There is something wired into human beings that desires a safe place and we often talk about “home”. There is something reassuring about entering our front doors, turning the lock and relaxing in what we perceive as a safe place. People with substantial means can afford to employ people to keep them safe, or they can afford to live in places where they think that their wealth will defend them. But there are many in the world that don’t have that safety and security, people with limited means living in hostile nations, people who are tent dwellers, or refugees, and so on.

David was a man who knew what it was like to be in places of danger. He always seemed to be fighting someone, both inside and outside Israel, and not just Goliath. There was a time when he found safety in a cave, “So David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. Soon his brothers and all his other relatives joined him there” (1 Samuel 22:1). David also made Jerusalem a place of safety, “So David made the fortress his home, and he called it the City of David. He extended the city, starting at the supporting terraces and working inward” (2 Samuel 5:9). Of course, at other times, David did not need to run and hide in a place of safety, because, with the Lord with him, he was able to fight off his foes and ensure his own safety following victory in battle. In fact, David prayed to God many times for safety and God answered his prayers, and, as we know, David died of old age, not being killed by his enemies in a vulnerable place.

But there is a spiritual side to David’s appeal to God for safety as well. We read in Proverbs 18:10, “The name of the Lord is a strong fortress; the godly run to him and are safe“. We also read in Proverbs 29:25, “Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety“. As we read these and similar Scriptures, a picture builds of the ultimate place of safety as being in God.

With Jesus came the ultimate route to a safe place for our souls in Heaven. There will be no conflict or danger there, just peace and love in a dwelling place where no door locks are required. We pilgrims of course know the way to find that place of safety for our souls. Romans 10:9-10, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved“.

With God we find the safety for which our souls crave, and a place we can call home. That’s what the saints of old called Heaven – they used to say that when they die they will be going “home”. David realised that and he finished Psalm 23 with, “Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever“. We can’t move on today without reading a few verses about our ultimate place we will call home. Contrary to popular opinion, there will come a time when God will create a new Heaven and a new Earth, where a new Jerusalem will be formed. God’s people will live there, not in Heaven, and we read in Revelation 21:3, “I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them”. In Heaven we will have spiritual bodies, but eventually we will have physical bodies like that of Jesus, bodies as God originally intended, bodies that will never wear out, and we, in our new bodies, will find a new home with God on the new earth.

Too much to take in? Suffice to say that God is indeed our place of safety, now and forever.

Dear Father God. There will be a day when You will come to live on the new Earth with Your people. We look forward to the time when there will be no more death, crying and sickness, and we repeat the words uttered by many saints over the years – come Lord Jesus. Amen.

“But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them sing joyful praises forever. Spread your protection over them, that all who love your name may be filled with joy. For you bless the godly, O Lord; you surround them with your shield of love.”
Psalm 5:11-12 NLT

As the soft tones of the accompanying flute echo in the air, David finishes this Psalm with a wonderful picture of God’s protection, a picture of a scene of peace and tranquillity as the storms of life rage unceasingly around him. A 3D cameo of a human being hanging in a maelstrom of chaos, untouchable and safe, forever buoyed up into the presence of God. To describe this place, David used words and phrases like “refuge”, “spread Your protection”, “surround”, and “shield of love”. In David’s world, perhaps he was envisaging an impregnable fortress where his enemies could not reach him. Or it was the thought that in the middle of a battle the swords and spears of his opponents were unable to pierce the circle of shields that had sprung up to protect him. And welling up within him was an indescribable joy expressed in singing as he basked in God’s love.

Have we pilgrims ever been in a place like David? Have we ever experienced God’s protection, saving us from all the enemies that would come against us? A lovely story we perhaps think but not one that matches reality. We ask why bad things happen to good people. A fellow Christian smitten with ill health. A child of believing parents snatched from them by a drunk driver motoring by. Fellow believers in other nations persecuted because of their faith. Even people who dared to believe faithfully that God would protect them from anything bad, but He didn’t.

We can read about the saints of old in Hebrews 11. On the one hand, there were those who seemed to go through life unscathed. Hebrews 11:33-34, “By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight”. But there were others described in the verses after, ” … But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons” (Hebrews 11:35-36).

In Jesus’ longest prayer, He declared, “During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold” (John 17:12). But a bit later on, Jesus prayed to His Father, “I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one” (John 17:15). And there’s the key. We, as human beings living in a world riddled with sin and wickedness, will experience the same ailments as anyone else, believers of not. Occasionally God will especially protect His children, as I can personally testify with the miraculous healing of my daughter. On other occasions He will, perhaps inexplicably, not answer the prayers in a way that we would like. But we will pray anyway. Fatalism has no part in a believer’s life. God is not capricious, however, sometimes healing a person and then on another occasion not doing so, depending on His mood. God looks at the big picture, and He has promised to keep us safe from the evil one. Living in a sinful world has its down sides, but one day we pilgrims will find ourselves in a place where, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever” (Revelation 21:4). In the meantime, whatever our circumstances, sick or well, we can “sing joyful praises” to God, assured of His loving and gracious protection until we arrive home.

Dear Father God. We bring all our sicknesses and diseases, our fears and worries, to You secure in the knowledge that You have shielded us from all the attacks of the evil one. As we stand firm in Your love we praise and worship You with thanks full hearts. And we thank You that one day, sooner to later, You will take us away to a place with You. Amen.

Safety in God

Refuge in God