“In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.” Psalm 4:8 (NIV)
No one and nothing can give us the sense of safety or security that the Lord Himself gives us. We are not able to see the invisible world of angels or the Holy Spirit, who works on our behalf, to guide, shield and protect us from what we cannot see, minute by minute, day after day.
Of all the security systems, burglar alarms, types of devices, weapons and tools of protection, the safest place to be is in the shadow of the Almighty God. The Lord alone, makes us dwell in safety, by sending His angels or other people, at the right time and place, to keep us safe and protected.
When I was involved in a church youth group many years ago, a young man in the group shared a true story. He offered to drive a teenage girl home one evening after youth group. He dropped her off at her apartment building in Chicago, watching as she walked into the front hallway of the building. As he started to drive away, before getting to the end of the block, he felt a very strong compulsion to go back and check on her. He went back and as he walked into that front hallway, a man had her pinned against the wall, but then he quickly fled out the door.
Some would say the young man listened to his gut by going back, and others might say the Holy Spirit led him to go back. Maybe it’s the Holy Spirit who places those feelings within our gut. Either way, God was looking out for that young girl that day.
A missionary, living in Brazil, once shared a true story. He was asked to speak at a school in a high crime neighborhood of Sao Paulo. It was three in the afternoon, and as he was driving home afterwords, about 8 motorcycles started following his car, with two men riding on each cycle. A Brazilian native, who was in the car with the missionary, told him that it was a gang of car thieves, and was a very common crime trend happening there.
The missionary, seeing the motorcycles approaching closer to their car, began praying out loud, and said “Lord, you promised to protect us and we need you to honor that promise now.” He kept talking to God and praying, as the cyclists rode alongside them for about two more minutes. As they looked at them, all the cyclists suddenly slowed behind them and left. The missionary believed that they probably saw or felt something to dissuade them from continuing.
Trusting in God’s miraculous protection may sound hard to believe, but God gives us many scriptural examples as well as verses to inspire our trust in His protection.
Young David prayed before he faced a 9’9” man who had been terrorizing the Israelite army, and he defeated him with one little stone.
A den full of starving lions, suddenly lost their appetite, had no interest in eating Daniel, as he stood before them, praying and worshipping.
God loves us and we are never alone. Nothing is impossible when people pray, Whether we lie down to sleep or move around during a busy day, we will be surrounded by His helpers and led by His Spirit.
The God we serve, is the omnipotent King of the universe and it’s enough to know that His son, Jesus, told us to ask for the impossible….
“Jesus looked at them and said, with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
(Matthew 19:26)
Lord, I pray you give each reader a new awareness of the invisible hedge of protection that surrounds us every day. Our safest place to dwell in, is in You alone, where nothing is impossible, because you are an ultimate source of all kinds of security. Amen