Dear Church Family –
Does God keep you safe? Sunday morning I said, “You are never more free, never more alive, never more safe than when you are trusting God.” Is that really true? Does God keep us safe when we trust Him?
Missionaries sometimes get killed.
Churches and Christians who are genuinely trusting God get harmed by hurricanes and tornadoes.
Christians who have trusted God all their lives and lived for Him sometimes get cancer and die.
Look at Job and everything that happened to him!
Is it really true that you are never safer than when trusting God? One of my grandkids quizzed me about that after Sunday’s message and I’m glad they did. It opened a great conversation.
1. I was attempting, Sunday morning, to counter our current cultural obsession with personal safety. Satan has used COVID to get many people to worship the false god of personal safety. Personal safety is not our greatest need and highest value. Following the true God of the Bible is. You might do God’s will and get harmed, but that’s better than not doing God’s will and getting harmed! Remember Jonah.
COVID was used to try to convince us that personal safety is more important than meeting together to worship and serve God and learn from His Word. It’s not.
COVID was used to try to convince us that personal safety is more important than helping others and caring for others. It’s not.
I believe Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount that we looked at Sunday, was trying to get us to trust God, not ourselves, as a principle of life.
2. God has given us the Ten Commandments, and other of His commandments, to be protective fences to keep us from things that would harm us.
3. God has given us the shield of faith to extinguish the fiery darts of Satan.
4. The New Testament does not guarantee us physical safety when we trust God. It does promise us spiritual safety.
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:6-7)
“…having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise…” (Eph 1:13)
I wish I could promise you that if you trust God nothing harmful will ever happen to you. I can’t. But I can promise you that trusting God is the best way to live. God is a Father who cares for you. God holds the future.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t lean on your own ability to figure things out. In all your ways acknowledge God and He will direct your paths.” (Prov 3:5-6).
Trusting God with you – Pastor Tim