Jesus Christ is our city of refuge. In him we are ever
safe. Out of him there is no safety. The wise man said,
"The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the
righteous runneth into it, and is safe" (Prov.
18:10). After the Lord had delivered David from all his
enemies he said, "The Lord is my rock, and my
fortress, and my deliverer; the God of my rock; in him
will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my
salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my Savior; thou
sayest me from violence" (II Sam. 22: 2-3).
These figures of speech are not merely poetic imagery.
They express a great truth. God is our refuge and
strength, a present help in time of trouble. He is exactly
what these scriptures represent him to be. He is not a God
afar off who cares nothing for our prosperity or safety.
He is not bound by the chains of his own laws so that he
is unable to do anything for us. He is not unwilling to
help us in our times of need. No, he is truly our strong
tower, into which we may run and be safe. Those who obey
and trust him are safe. He does not promise his help and
then neglect to give it. He does not raise expectations of
safety in us only to disappoint us in the hour of peril.
No, "He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures." He takes away the fear because he takes
away the danger. It is written, "Whoso putteth his
trust in the Lord shall be safe" (Prov. 29: 26).
Through Hosea God said, "In that day will I make
& covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and
with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of
the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the
battle out of the earth, and will make them to die down
safely" (Hosea 2:18). This is a figurative language,
but it expresses a great truth. No matter who are our
enemies, no matter what threatens us, God will master the
situation. He will make his people to lie down safely in a
safe place, secure in his unfailing care.
When we feel we are safe from all our enemies, when we
feel we are protected most amply, when we believe there is
nothing at all to cause us concern, we can sing in safety.
It is thus that God would have us sing in our Christian
life. He would have us with that confidence in him which
trusts him unfalteringly. He would have us believe that in
his care we are safe.
Being safe and having the assurance of our safety are two
altogether different things. We may feel safe when we are
in great danger if we are ignorant of that danger. We may
be concerned for our safety when there is no danger, if we
are unaware of our safety. It is important then that we
know whether or not we are safe. When are we safe? When we
are trusting in God. When we are obeying him. When we are
in his care. But many who are truly in his care and who
might lie down in safety and whose hearts might be free
from anxiety or any sense of disturbing care are disturbed
and troubled and filled with forebodings that are
altogether needless.
No matter how safe we may be we cannot feel safe unless we
believe we are safe. As long as we question our safety
there can be no feeling of security. As long as we
question God's care of us we shall feel insecure. It is
necessary therefore that we believe God's promises of our
safety; that we cease to question them altogether. We
should rely upon them without fear. When we repose
implicit confidence in his Word we may have a sense of
safety in his protecting care and realize there is a wall
of his love about us that cannot be penetrated by any
enemy.
With this attitude of heart, questioning is lost in trust.
A sense of security brings comfort and rest. The writer of
the old song expressed his confidence, that tho his Father
has many dear children to look after, "He will never
forget to keep me." That is the attitude of faith.
That is the attitude of heart out of which we can sing in
safety. This blessed secret of trust is the secret of the
singing heart, and until we have learned this and put it
into practice we cannot sing the song of restful trust; we
cannot sing from a heart undisturbed.
We should cultivate a sense of our security by considering
that we are secure. We should reject all feelings of
insecurity, because they are based on groundless fears. So
many of us cultivate our fears. We develop a sense of
insecurity by continually questioning our safety. We
cultivate feelings we do not desire to have and then
wonder why we have them. We cultivate a sense of
insecurity by letting our minds dwell upon the possibility
of insecurity, by considering the dangers that may
threaten us and the possibility of evil that lies in
things.
We should do just the opposite of this—cultivate a sense
of security by considering God's faithfulness and by
familiarizing ourselves with his promises, by considering
how great he is and the marvelous power he can exert and
the great love he has that will naturally cause him to
exert this great power to keep us safely. We may feel
safe, or we may feel unsafe, as we choose. Some Christians
are always troubled and worried about what is going to
happen while others rest in God and worry not in the least
for the future. It is a different attitude of mind; that
is all. We can have whichever attitude we cultivate.
When we trust we are care free. When we are care free the
song will rise, the song of trust and confidence. One who
had this experience wrote,
"I
no trouble and no sorrow
Seek today, nor will I borrow
Gloomy visions of the morrow,
In my Jesus all is blest."
We might suppose that the author of these lines was a man
whose life had been carefully guarded from trouble. We
might suppose he had never known sorrow nor care, that he
knew nothing of persecutions. On the contrary he was a man
who suffered many things. He had been bitterly persecuted.
He had suffered heartbreaking sorrow. He had been
misrepresented and maligned. The tenderest ties of
affection had been rudely broken. He had known bitter
poverty. Yet in all these things his soul had triumphed,
and when I knew him in the last year of his life I found
him one of the most joyous Christians I had ever known.
It is the privilege of every Christian to live in the one
hundred twenty first Psalm. It is entitled "The Great
Safety of the Godly Who Put Their Trust in God's
Protection." Get your Bible and read it. Read it over
and over; then let your soul establish itself in it, to
abide in its security. Peter tells us we are "kept by
the power of God through faith unto salvation" (I
Pet. 1: 5). No doubt you have noticed how again and again
we are led back to faith. We are kept through faith. If we
are to be kept we must exercise faith. We must believe
that God will keep us and trust him to do so. Faith is the
most prominent element in the Christian life, and the most
important element. Every road in the Scriptures leads to
faith.
Continuing, Peter tells us how we are kept—"Ready
to be revealed in the last time." Kept in readiness
for God's coming. Kept in readiness to meet the great
judgment day with joy; in readiness to welcome our Lord's
return. Yes, kept ready day by day for whatever the future
holds for us; preserved by God's power from evil.
There is another sense in which we are kept through faith.
A fort is kept by a garrison. God places a garrison in us
so the citadel of our soul may be kept inviolate. We are
made partakers of his holiness, of his goodness, of his
love, his mercy, his peace, and many other things. He
himself dwells in us in a very real sense. Thus we are
garrisoned and defended against all attackers.
Faith also works to help us hold on to God. Some people
are fearful that their hold upon him will be broken. They
feel as tho they were hanging over a chasm of
uncertainties and dangers, and only by holding on with
their utmost strength can they hope to escape disaster.
The real facts are illustrated by an incident that I once
observed. A father took his little daughter by the arms
and lifted her from the floor. She grabbed frantically at
his arms with her hands and held on as hard as she could,
fearing that he would let her fall. Seeing her fear he
relaxed his grasp sufficiently to throw most of her weight
upon her hands. She held tightly for a few moments, then
her strength began to fail. She cried, "O Papa, Papa,
I'll fall, I'll fall." Her father only smiled. Her
grasp soon began to relax and she lost her hold with both
hands, but she did not fall. Her father held her as
tightly as before. She had been at no time in danger of
falling.
So God holds us. Our strength may not enable us to hold on
to him securely. Sometimes we may feel our grasp upon him
slipping. It may seem that we shall certainly fall. But we
do not fall. His hands still hold us. We are safe in the
midst of our fears. Ah, soul, do not be afraid; God will
not let you go. He will hold fast to you with those great
strong arms of his. His hold will never slip. Do not trust
your own faith to hold on to him. Hold as you can, but
rely upon him to hold you. Do not attempt to rely upon
yourself, to hold all your weight. He does not expect it.
He does not wish it. He wants the satisfaction of holding
you, and having you have confidence enough in him to be
unafraid but secure in your safety.
God's ways are not our ways. Sometimes God's wisdom rather
than his power protects us. He can make great barriers of
trifles. The story is told of Felix of Uola and his
followers who when fleeing from their pursuers took refuge
in a cave. Just after they entered, a spider spun a web
across the opening. The pursuers coming along glanced
toward the cave but, noticing the spider's web across the
opening, decided no one had entered there, so marched on.
After they had passed out of sight Felix and his men came
out. When he saw the spider's web Felix said, "With
God a spider's web is an army. Without God an army is but
a spider's web."'
One thing we must learn—when God takes us out of
trouble, or when he comforts and sustains us in our
troubles, we must do nothing to bring trouble back upon
us. We must let past things be past things. The following
illustration points out a lesson we all need to learn:
"A Christian lady had passed through some trouble and
the Lord at the proper time had comforted her. But later
she got to thinking over the thing again, and began to
feel bad over it. Then the Lord said to her, 'I comforted
you over this once; now if you go to thinking it over
again you will have to bear it yourself."'
Many of us go back into the past to bring up troubles
through which we have been brought, and sorrows over which
we have been comforted. With these we spoil the present.
With these we crush the song of joy that would otherwise
spring up in our hearts. Let us not act so unwisely.
Living today, trusting God for today, realizing his ¢are
today, and letting yesterday and tomorrow look after the
things that belong to them, we may realize the security of
our souls in God and out of that sense of security we can
sing songs of triumph and abounding joy.
