It was Corrie Ten Boom who coined the saying, "The safest place is in the centre of God's will."
Think about it: A woman imprisoned by the Nazis for helping Jews found safety in the midst of her suffering. It makes you really think about the true essence of safety found in God.
Sometimes safety can be misconstrued as a perpetual absence of conflict or pressure. We might think that when God promises safety that we won't have hard times and that life will be comfortable all the way. If that's the way we view safety, then we would only end up getting pretty frustrated with some of the promises God has given us.
Psalm 4:8 tells us, "In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety."
What kind of safety does God provide us and to what extent does His protection go?
External Safety
The first kind of safety that God promises is external safety. So many times in the Bible, God delivered His people from physical and imminent harm like the time He spared Daniel from the Lions; Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the fiery furnace; David from Goliath; Peter from many imprisonments; and Paul from a shipwreck and a snake.
There is physical and external safety promised in God. Sure there are those that die for their faith and many who are harmed in unjust ways. But that only goes to prove God's other promises of safety.
Internal Safety
While storms may come and shake us, God also promises internal safety. This kind of safety has to do with finding peace in the midst of turmoil. Jesus said in John 16:33, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."
Internal safety comes by knowing that while there will be challenges in this day and age, Jesus has won not just the external but also the internal battles within us.
Eternal Safety
The greatest safety we can find in God is the assurance that though we may experience trial and opposition in this life, there is another life waiting for us that will exist in eternity without injustice and inhumanity.
We live in a broken and sinful world ruined by our own failures. But this is not our final destination. This is but a glimpse of the glory that is to come in God's final kingdom where He will rule once and for all. And if you are found in Christ, that safety is assured for you.
We may suffer in this life, but 10,000 years from now, we'll be looking back to these days and saying that this suffering and risk is nothing compared to the glory that is to come.
