Stay Safe

We hear a lot these days about staying safe and keeping ourselves free of things that could contaminate us and others. The problem is that nowhere is completely safe, because we live in a contaminated world and, since the Fall of man, we all have the potential to be contaminated. In fact, we are already contaminated through the sin within us which is just waiting to manifest itself through our actions and the circumstances we find ourselves in.

The other night one of the double-glazed panels in the roof of our conservatory on the back of our bungalow suddenly shattered with a loud bang, which woke us up. Having searched the house and found nothing, we went back to sleep. It was only in the morning that we found glass everywhere in the conservatory and were able to look up and see that the inner skin of the glazing panel had disintegrated, for no apparent reason. It was a particularly windy time outside and we were concerned about the safety of the conservatory if the outer skin broke too. It felt very unsafe.

What seemed a safe covering for us suddenly became a threat. That is just like so many of the things we place our trust in to protect us. As I write, many people in the UK and other countries are having vaccinations to protect them from the Covid-19 virus. The hope is that we shall all be safe, but it is significant that we are still being told to stay safe – we have a responsibility to do our part. However, there is only one real source of protection. That is Jesus. His protection goes beyond the merely physical into the eternal. We may suffer in our bodies – or our conservatories! but by ‘living in the shelter of the most high’, we shall experience true protection from the works of the enemy (Psalm 91:1). The Psalm goes on to say ‘This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge and place of safety (Psalm 91:2, NLT).

Bad things still happen, even to believers, but we can look forward to a life to come without fear, pain or broken glass! We shall be welcomed into the perfect presence of Almighty God, and in the meantime, we are offered shelter for our spirits now in the Most High.

Prayer: Most High God and heavenly Father, thank You so much for being our refuge and place of safety. Our world feels very unsafe at the moment, but we turn to You in trust and confidence, looking forward beyond the difficulties of this life towards that perfect place of safety which is to come. Amen.