Here Are My Thoughts

READ: Proverbs 18

“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.” (Proverbs 18:10)

To some extent, we all want safety, don’t we? We spend millions and millions of dollars a year on security systems to protect our houses and families. We care about whether or not the school district or neighborhoods we live in are safe for our kids. Even at our church, we have done some work to our building over the last few months to make our children’s ministries more secure (for good reason!)

I don’t think safety and security is a bad thing. But I do think that sometimes, it’s just not as realistic as we like to think. We pursue physical safety because it makes us feel like we have control. It allows us, in some capacity, to feel a sense of peace when, in reality, our world is chaotic. I mean, there are 7 billion of us on a globe rotating at an angle, floating in outer space. There isn’t really that much that we can control. There isn’t much that, ultimately, we can keep secure.

So what do we do? Well, plainly: If we want to be safe in this world, we have to run to something (or Someone) who is greater than this world. It just makes sense-you overcome something by aligning with something beyond whatever it is you want to overcome. Want to be “safe” in this physical, temporary world-rest in what is eternal and ultimate.

That’s why Solomon tells us that the name of the Lord is a strong tower, that when we who seek to follow him run to Him, we become safe. He’s telling us that, though we can’t control this world, we can find safety in the One who does. 

-Brett