THE SECURITY GOD PROVIDES
Things unfold so fast that
maybe for the first time some begin to realize there is nothing in this world
that could give them security. Health, wealth, possessions, achievements and
life itself could be lost in a seemingly random way. No one expected that the
ordinary flu could mutate into a far more deadly disease (COVID 19) causing massive death
in its wake. The scourge of plagues
though not a new experience, for mankind, has almost been entirely forgotten
with the advances of medical science, not until today. We thought we are
invulnerable. Then the seemingly secure bubble burst. The things we struggle to achieve had lost
their meaning, importance and significance. We are after all such fragile
creatures living on borrowed time.
I remember an old time preacher
I knew who in his zealousness would exclaim, ”There is no security in this
world, no one is secure, even your security guards or your insurance policies
are not secure,” saying this with a bit of humor.
God’s Word the Bible reveals
that God is our only security. God is the believer’s security. The unknown
psalmist who wrote the marvelous Psalm 91, describes God, as the Most High
(Sovereign Ruler) and the Almighty (One having all power). He describes God as a
shelter, a cool refreshing place beneath the shadow of strong tree, a place of
security, a refuge where we can run for safety in times of danger and a
fortress that will provide defense against enemies.
Psalm 91 is a wisdom psalm which
gives us the idea of our security in God. It is a psalm for situations
involving danger, exposure, or vulnerability. Consequently the believer can be
at peace and not fear the deadly diseases or the mighty pestilence. Pestilence
in the Bible refers to a deadly and overwhelming disease that affects entire
community. Pestilence is also one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
mentioned in the Book of Revelations.
The believer is secure until
his or her time is up.
The other day I received a
call from a Church Leader in our congregation telling me she was besieged by a
group of elders who insisted that they should meet and gather in our regular Prayer
meetings in spite of the community quarantine. They made comments like we are
afraid, we lack faith, they are not afraid to die, and they have full
confidence in God’s protection, and all the high sounding pieties. Another
Pastor probably fed up by the same comments posted in the Social Media that he
is not afraid to die in this pandemonium, but he does not want others to go
down with him.
May I again address this
line of thinking.
In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus
quoted Deuteronomy 6:16 in the wilderness, in response to one of Satan’s
temptations. “The devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the
highest point of the temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw
yourself down. For it is written: “He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot
against a stone.”
Jesus answered him, ‘It is
also written: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test”’” (Matthew 4:7–10).
Essentially, the devil was
telling Jesus to “prove” God’s Word was true by forcing God’s hand—if Jesus was
in peril, God would have to save Him. Jesus refused to test God in such a way.
We are to accept God’s Word by faith, without requiring a sign (see Luke
11:29).
God’s promises are there for us when we need them; to manipulate
situations in an attempt to coerce God into fulfilling His promises is evil.
And to willfully and stubbornly place ourselves in harm’s way and demand of our
God to prove His promises is testing Him the wrong way.
This is an unacceptable kind
of testing to demand something of God to prove Himself to us.
Some friends would ask the
question: “How do you explain the fact that God has apparently not honored
these promises consistently? Some good and godly people have died in natural
calamities, airplane crashes, vehicular collisions. Some die young, others are
at the peak of their careers, others have perished at the hands of their
persecutors or enemies, as was and is true of some Christian martyrs. Others
die victims of crimes and evil deeds. Others die of diseases, while others are
not spared of the plague. Does this indicate that God is unfaithful and His
promises are unreliable?
“There are five primary
causes of suffering:
1. We are mortal and live in
a disease and death environment. (A Fallen World)
Nature does not discriminate
between good and bad, atheist and believer. The sun and rain—including droughts
and storms—fall on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45).
The Christian worldview does
not require a spiritual explanation for every life experience. Suffering can be
without any moral cause. Jesus raised the question of “those eighteen” upon
whom a tower fell: “Think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in
Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay” (Luke 13:4–5). They were not being punished.
God set up His world with
natural laws regulating such things as gravity, matter in motion, weather
patterns, the water cycle, ocean tides, and geological/meteorological conditions.
Those laws were implemented
for man’s good, but if violated, they bring consequences. One can cook with
fire or be consumed in it. Gravity keeps us attached to the planet, but it also
crashes us to the ground if a plane engine fails. Two objects cannot occupy the
same space at the same time, so one hit by a car will be injured or killed.
Why didn’t God create a
world free from natural disasters? He did.
On the sixth day everything God made
was pronounced ‘very good’ (Genesis 1:31). The Garden of Eden was an
incomparable paradise of physical beauty and tranquil peace. It had no
sickness, disease, pathogens, genetic flaws, harmful mutations, viruses, or
other threats to man’s mental peace or physical well-being.
Man was designed to live
forever in Eden, but he sinned (Genesis 3:6), and everything changed. God
warned that the forbidden fruit would cause them to ‘surely die’ (Gen-esis
2:17). Thus sin introduced death—spiritual and physical. Post-sin Adam was
subject to the sweat of toil and the pain of thorns ‘till thou return unto the
ground”’(Genesis 3:17–19). With no access to the tree of life (Genesis 2:9;
3:22–24), those perfect bodies that God had whipped up from divine breath and
earth dust began to decay. Since all men
sin, mortality is universal: ‘So death passed upon all men’ (Romans 5:12). Man
had an expiration date. “Death” entered our vocabulary.
2. We are foolish and make
bad decisions.
Suffering can be—and often
is—self-inflicted. Oxford scholar C.S. Lewis estimated that eighty percent of
human suffering stems from human choice.
The most dangerous gift that
God gave man was volition—the ability to choose. God did not create evil, but
He did create the possibility of evil. Adam and Eve were told what they could
and could not do (Genesis 2:17). They introduced suffering into the world by
choosing to disobey God. They soon learned of punishments involving sweat,
subservience, pain, and toil (Genesis 3:17–19). They were driven from the
paradise (3:24).
Every human is born with the
ability to choose (Joshua 24:15). We suffer if we use the gift foolishly. A
frugal person has a surplus; a spendthrift can’t pay the bills. Hate leads to
violence, and violence to pain. Greed leads to stealing and abuse. A violent
temper leads to fights, injury, property damage, murder, and arrest.
Drunkenness causes hangovers, wrecks, cirrhosis, poverty, and spouse abuse
(Proverbs 23:29–35). A busybody who sticks his nose where it should not be will
soon have few friends (I Peter 4:15). Sexual promiscuity leads to unwanted
children, disease, abortion, and divorce (Hebrews 13:4).
Paul wrote, ‘Be not
deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also
reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but
he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting’
(Galatians 6:7–8).
3. We are connected and
injured by other’s decisions.
Much of the pain in this
world is collateral. Jonah’s rebellion caused a ship’s crew to be caught in a
fearful storm (Jonah 1:14). David had Uriah killed, but others died with him (2
Samuel 11:17). Herod left a whole village to grieve (Matthew 2:16–18).
Innocents have always suffered because others choose greed, lust, hate,
addiction, and selfishness. Radical adherents to a violent religion killed
2,998 in the Twin Towers and left a nation hurting. Families go without food
because a parent is addicted to gambling, drugs, sex, or alcohol. Good spouses
are divorced and left to rear children alone because the other found someone
else (cf. Matthew 19:9). People are killed on highways every day by drinking
drivers.
4. We are vulnerable and
suffer from man’s inhumanity to man.
The might-makes-right crowd
takes advantage of society’s powerless. Robbers steal. Murderers kill. Identity
thieves prey upon citizens, ruining credit and causing chaos. The unscrupulous
lie to the old and steal their retirement savings. A ruffian finds a woman in
the wrong place and forces her—or lures her on a date, then drugs and rapes
her. Terrorists plot, plant, murder, and maim. Criminal cowards shoot innocent
children in schools and target moviegoers catching a Batman flick. Greedy
businessmen take advantage of the unsuspecting and leave them high and dry.
Why doesn’t God step in? He
allows the freedom to choose evil.
When trouble brewed in the first family
(Genesis 4:5–8), God did not step in and stop the fatal blow. He did not
supernaturally heal Abel’s wound and bring him back to life. He allowed Cain
the freedom to choose love or hate, and everybody had to live with the
consequences. God will eventually right the scales of justice at the final
tribunal (Matthew 25:31–33; Hebrews 10:31).
5. We are righteous, and
darkness hates light.
‘Yea, and all that will live
godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution’ (2 Timothy 3:12). Jesus was
executed on a cross even though He lived a sinless life (Matthew 27:35). He
explained that His followers will also have tribulation in this world (John
16:33).
When God’s children suffer,
we can trust that God will always do what is right (Genesis 18:25) and that He
will always work things out for the best (Romans 8:28). Corrie Ten Boom,
Holocaust survivor, wrote, ‘When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets
dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the
engineer.’
‘Trust in the LORD with all
your heart and lean not on your own understanding’ (Proverbs 3:5).” * (Why Do
Bad Things Happen? By Allen Webster)
If we view life as extending
beyond the grave, which it does, we should have no trouble with these promises.
God will grant ultimate deliverance to His own, even if He allows them to
suffer and die under any circumstances.
We draw encouragement from
one Christian writer who said, "In life the LORD MAY PERMIT MANY TERRIBLE THINGS
TO HAPPEN TO HIS CHILDREN AS HE DID TO HIS OWN SON, OUR LORD. But his children
know that no power is out of God’s control."
