Beloved, what makes you feel safe? Conversely, when do you feel the hairs on the back of your neck raise, warning you that something might be wrong or that you might not be safe?
Our word today is safety, which is in the Bible twenty times. Safety definition means the condition of being protected from or unlikely to cause danger, risk, or injury. Most often, we find safety in our homes, our community, and our workplaces. But, yes, there is often violence that erupts and threatens safety, and a heightened awareness then occurs.
Wendy Blight
Wendy Blight shares in her book Hidden Joy in a Dark Corner, “One week after Wendy Blight’s college graduation; she walked into her apartment to find a masked man holding a knife and waiting for her at the top of the stairs. The man spent an hour physically and sexually assaulting Wendy, leaving her changed forever. After this terrifying experience, she lived for years, cocooned in a prison of fear, despair, and hopelessness. Finally, after years of searching and believing she had nowhere else to turn, she fell on her knees before God and poured out her tears, anger, and questions to Him. Wendy’s story is transformed from trauma to rebirth through the power of the Word of God.”
Reality
Perhaps, depression, pain, or anxiety keep you or wake you in the wee hours of the morning, and you long for sleep. For me, headache pain, most often a migraine type, wakes me at 3:30 or 4:00 a. m. Some days, I can go back to sleep; other times, I lay there, and once the pain is controlled, I have a choice: complain or pray.
King David
In our Psalm today, it is Psalm 4.
Our verse will be,
In peace, I will both lie down and sleep,
For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. Psalm 4:8
This Psalm is an evening prayer of trust in God. King David’s conflict with his son Absalom, 2 Samuel 13-14, However, his faith in God is greater than the trouble he is facing.
Beloved, God is trustworthy no matter what you are facing, conflict with an adult child, financial concerns, problems at work, or lack of sleep. Do you see how King David approaches God?
Answer me when I call, O God [b]of my righteousness!
You have [c]relieved me in my distress;
Be gracious to me and hear my prayer. Psalm 4:1
We can approach God with confidence. He is our safety net.
Prayer
Father God, Create in me a clean heart, search me, and know if there is any anxiety or worry I need to entrust to you. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer. Lord, I ask for safety for each one reading my blog. For each person, I ask that their desire to grow in your likeness would increase and that she would want to read your word and pray daily. Give us peace when we sleep. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
What conflict might God be asking you to bring to an end with forgiveness? Are you harboring bitterness towards God for something that is not God’s fault? Do you need to put a boundary in place to keep you safe?
