Friends in Christ Weekly Message
September 28, 2001

Live under the protection of God Most High
and stay in the shadow of God All-Powerful.
Then you will say to the Lord,
"You are my fortress, my place of safety;
you are my God, and I trust you."
Psalm 91:1-2 (CEV*)

We are living in a time when security is getting particularly great attention. Governments, institutions and individuals have been putting into place a great variety of measures designed to enhance people's security. As a society, we are devoting large sums of money to this effort, and we are changing many patterns of behavior.

It is wise to be prudent, and these human efforts may reduce certain risks. However, they can not make us fully secure. The method used by the September 11 terrorists was not anticipated by security experts, and so they had not developed good measures of preventing it. While we can make terrorist actions more difficult, the minds of people bent on destruction are likely to find ways that have not been considered and prepared for.

I don't point this out in order to scare you or to argue that we should do nothing about the risk of terrorism. But we do need to realize that even the most intelligently designed measures can not totally eliminate all risks to our physical security. If our sense of well-being is primarily dependent on such humanly devised measures, that sense can be shattered by the unexpected.

The psalmist reminds us that our primary trust must be in God if we are to feel secure (and you can find numerous other scriptures making the same point). This is not because it is certain to prevent any physical harm coming to us. It isn't. But it does allow us to put these things in God's hands, and to live a life where we are not preoccupied with our own physical security. Faith in God can get us through the toughest of times. We can not count on our physical safety, our material well-being, or even on other people. In the final analysis, however, what we can count on is more vital than any of these - the unfailing love of God for us.

In whom or what do you place your ultimate trust?

Bill Samuel

* Contemporary English Version ©1995 American Bible Society.

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