Wednesday, July 23, 2008
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A Safe Place in this World
"My prayer is not that you would take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth" (John 17:15-17).
We live in a world that is not always safe. That is certainly true in the physical realm, but even more so in the spiritual realm. "The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy . . . " (John 10:10). "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). No, this is definitely not a safe place! For some, it may be time to wake up to the reality that surrounds us all before something really bad happens!
Jesus knew, better than any of us, what the world was really like. You would think that he would tell us to run away and pray that we could be free of this evil world asap! But that is not what he does at all. He prays that we would remain resolutely in the world, in the midst of all of the evil. And right there, in the midst of this evil world, he prays, "Father God, protect them from the evil one. Do not take them out of the world but rather put a hedge of protection between them and Satan and his evil minions."
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 6:12).
No matter where you may reside, no believer really lives in a "good" neighborhood!
So, if moving somewhere won't help, and leaving the world isn't an option, how are we to survive? Where is our place of safety? First of all, recognize that even though we find ourselves in the world, because of Jesus and similar to him, we are not of the world. We are part of a different world order from the rest of humanity because we are people of faith who confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, proclaim that this world is not all that there is to life, and that we have been born again to a new life that continues even after we leave this place. For the time being, however, our job is to occupy, while at the same time realizing that we are no longer true citizens of earth but rather, Hebrews 11 type people of faith who know that they are "aliens and strangers on earth . . . longing for a better country — a heavenly one" (Hebrews 11:13, 16).
If we are going to survive, we need to embrace our difference and also to be set apart — the Bible calls this "sanctified" and it carries the meaning of being made holy. We need to be put in a place where the evil one can't touch us even though we are in plain view! How do we get there? We are set apart by the truth. The Word of God is truth. God's Word is what allows us to be in the world and yet rise above it. This True Word is what will protect us from Satan's attacks.
Let me show you what I mean. The story is told of the 91rst brigade of the Irish army in WWI whose captain had every one of his men pray Psalm 91 each day and also had them put those verses into their helmets. While other divisions suffered as high as 90% losses, the 91rst saw not a single battle fatality even though they went through three of the most severe battles of WWI!
Jesus gave us this example in the temptations after he had fasted for forty days. He used the word of God to defeat the enemy. If this is true, how important should the word be to us? Do we realize that we don't stand a chance of surviving without it? All of the weapons mentioned in Ephesians 6 in some way relate to the Word of God.
The world is not a safe place. But the Word of God changes everything. "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty . . ." (Psalm 91:1). Start with this Psalm and find more of the Word on which to stake your life. The more of the Word of God that you and I have on the inside, the safer our world will be!
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