One thing that amazes me about fatherhood is that, at the various stages my children are currently in and have been in in the past, they depend upon me. And in some ways, the less they depend on me, the more they want to be WITH me. At church on Sunday, for example, the kids are no longer in need of being held, but all four of them tried to get a position next to and close to me. As a dad, it made me feel really good. It got me thinking, though. They often do this to their mother and myself, seek position near us, to be close and feel that touch: isn’t that what church is about? Heck, isn’t that what life is about? My children come to me (for now) as their place of safety and security, and this is what WE (no matter how old we are) need to do for our heavenly father!
God is our place of safety, He is our security, and our fortress. It is only as we depend on Him more that we feel safe, secure, and at peace, even when chaos reigns in our lives. When we make God our hiding place, when we seek to depend on Him for our very air that we breath, there is a peace and a joy that goes along with it. This peace and joy has been with the prisoner in chains and the martyr at the executioners side, as well as to those who are oppressed, beaten and tortured for the sake of Christ, and it can be for us in any circumstance we face, whether or not it is “good.” God desires to be our only security in this life. Money will come and go, relationships will be parted (death comes to us fragile human beings, whether we like it or not), but God endures forever and always. He is the same yesterday, as He is today, as He will be tomorrow, and we can stand firm in Him as He is immovable, unchangeable, and unshakable. I know where my help comes from, and it comes from my God, my rock, my refuge and my strength.
Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
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