I’m shopping in a department store when my phone rings. A friend’s voice on the other end, “I think Todd had an accident and they took him to UVA in an ambulance.” Confusion, panic rising, trying to stay calm.
You may have felt something like this in your own life, when the safety of someone you love has been called into question. It shakes you to your very core. It’s unpleasant and uncomfortable, at the very least. It’s probably something you hope to never experience again. But when keeping ourselves and our loved ones safe becomes our main focus, we have created an idol of the heart.
Jesus did not promise us safety when we became Christians. He told his followers they would have trouble in this world. Just a quick look at what the first century Christians experienced should be enough to remind us that being a Christian does not equal a life free from danger.
But we are 21st century Christians in America. We worship without fear of persecution. We are used to feeling safe in our communities, in our homes, as we go about our daily lives. And that is a blessing! But if we live our lives in such a way that our safety is the ultimate goal, where all our decisions are based on keeping our loved ones protected, then we are living out of fear and not trust, and we have put safety in the place of God in our lives.
What if God calls us into a situation that we feel is not safe? What if He calls us, or our children, to the mission field in a country that persecutes Christians? Will we resist His call because the danger seems too great? Would we discourage our children from going because we would sleep a lot easier if they were serving in a safer location? Have we put our safety above our love and trust of God?
David was called by God to be Israel’s king, and it was this very call that put his life in danger. He ran for his life as Saul pursued him! And out of this time in his life, David wrote Psalms like these:
In peace will I lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety. Psalm 4:8
For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. Psalm 27:5
I think the idol of safety holds hands with the idol of control. We want to control and minimize the amount of danger in our lives. And we can do this to a certain extent. We can choose not to participate in high-risk activities. We can live in the safest part of town. We can avoid putting ourselves in dangerous situations. But ultimately, our safety does not lie in our hands, it lies in His. When we face this truth, sometimes in a situation when our safety has been threatened or demolished, we can lay our idol at the feet of Jesus and repent.
My husband is not going to stop riding his bike (and is even planning on riding in the race he was injured in last year!). My daughters will both, eventually, learn to drive a car. These are things that will cause me anxiety about their safety. I can let that be my idol, consuming my thoughts and causing me mental distress. Or I can “cast my anxiety on him” as 1 Peter tells me. When I do that, my peace is not in the guarantee that I and my loved ones will always be free from danger, but that Jesus will see me through any situation. I won’t find that peace in any idol my heart can construct. I will only find it in Him.
In Him,
Candy
