Safe in His Hands

Preacher:
Date: September 16, 2016

Bible Text: Psalms 31:14-15 | Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | But I trust in you, LORD; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hands. Psalms 31:14-15

Have you begun to dread picking up your smartphone or turning on the news every morning? What bombing, shooting or attack may have happened in the night or what will happen while you go about the business of your life today? Be it Paris, Pakistan, Brussels, Afghanistan, California, Tunisia, Turkey, Florida or Germany, life just doesn’t seem safe anymore. Airports, offices, trains, schools, cafes and beaches—where are you safe? While there is no new wickedness under the sun, it certainly feels like evil is beginning to hit harder and faster as Satan himself knows the final curtain call is inevitable.

Have you ever discovered what the Bible says about fear and overcoming it? The more you know about the nature and strength of our Heavenly Father, the less prone you are to worry and be debilitated by fear. Take a concordance and look up the word fear, then mark those passages in your Bible on make a list on your smartphone. Read passages like Isaiah 41:10 and Psalm 23. Read the words of Jesus where He said, I will never leave you or forsake you.” When you understand something of God’s strength and personal care, fear dissipates rapidly.

I’m convinced that there are some fears which God never intended us to bear—perhaps, such as “Will I be blown up by a terrorist’s bomb?” and when we try to handle our load and His, we’re not going to make it. An elderly Christian lady, after having read that God never slumbers or sleeps, shut off her light with the comment, “Why should both of us stay awake tonight?” Good reasoning. Someone with a flair for details counted 365 “fear nots” in the Bible, one for every day of the year.

For the Christian, the issue takes on a different dimension. Do you know what Jesus said about you, as a believer? He said, “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (John 10:29) No one. No terrorist. No insane person. No typhoon. You will never be bereft of the presence of the Creator of the Universe, the Living God. Like the precious verses found in Isaiah 43, where God says when you go through deep waters He will be with you, and when you face the proverbial rivers which could drown you, He will be with you. These promises, friend, were not just made to spiritual giants such as Elijah, or David or missionaries or the pastor of your church. These promises have your name attached to them, provided you will accept and believe them.

I’ve been privileged to count as a friend, a man known only to the world as “Brother Andrew,” or “God’s Smuggler,” which is the title of his biographical book. Andrew is a Dutchman who at the height of the Cold War, didn’t see why the “Iron Curtain” of communism should stop the people living in Eastern Europe from having access to the Word of God. He drove his Volkswagen Beetle full of Bibles right up to, and through countless armed checkpoints. Once, a guard opened the trunk of the car, looked right at boxes of forbidden Bibles, and waved the car through. “The enemy is fierce” wrote Andrew, “and he would like for you to think that he has won. Don’t believe his lie.”

I have been known for having a little plaque on my desk with a simple truth on it that reads: “Safety is not found in the absence of danger, but in the presence of God.” You don’t have to be afraid when you know God is with you.

Resource Reading: Isaiah 43, Hebrews 13:5-6