Each night I set my house alarm. I go to sleep and rest a little easier knowing that it is on.
Each time I get in my car I put on my seatbelt, snapping it in the lock, helping me to feel more protected as I venture out with my girls.
I have friends and family who have a handgun license and keep their gun within reach incase they are attacked, making them feel more secure.
These last months have been trying, to say the least, for our country. In December our country mourned together through the devastating loss that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary. We have heard of gunmen being at multiple school campuses and local District Attorney’s being gunned down. Last week we all watched in horror as people were both injured and lost their lives at the Boston Marathon due to explosions. Even within the metroplex many felt the fertilizer plant explosion that took place in West, Texas that killed several and critically injured others.
I laid in bed last night, staring at the ceiling, as all of this replayed in my mind. I questioned why this was happening and felt completely overwhelmed. Is this the world that I grew up in? Is this the world my children would be inheriting?
As a kid, it did not seem so dark.
Is it because of how much more connected our world is through social media and television that we see it all so much more clearly or is it because it is happening more and more? Maybe both. I am not sure. However, one thing I am sure of. As I laid there, contemplating, and praying something became very clear.
We are a nation that was undoubtedly founded on Christian principles. I feel that God has blessed our country, especially due to our focus on Him. In these last years, we, as a country, have made decisions that both directly and indirectly go against God’s will according to His word. Slowly, his hedge of protection has been drawn back, exposing us and allowing us to become more vulnerable.
So, what am I saying?
Do I feel that you should not set your house alarm, wear a seatbelt, or have a gun for protection? Absolutely not. God has given us common sense and he wants us to use it. However, he does not want our security to rest solely in the handgun sitting on your bed stand. He wants your confidence and hope to rest solely in Him.
In Philippians, the Apostle Paul writes, “But one thing I do; forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Forgetting and straining go against our natural inclinations. He is saying, that yes, things will be difficult, challenging, and an all out battle at times, but we must go against our natural tendencies of complacency, push forward, and allow God and eternity to become our focus. Our eyes must shift from the ever changing, temporary distractions of this world and be re-centered on the “Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17).
When heart breaking tragedies like the Boston Marathon or West, Texas explosions take place it causes us to step back and ask where our own hope and security is placed. These events inevitably take away the false securities we have and comfort that we have built up and created within our own means. In return it makes us realize that we need something much greater and bigger than anything we could possibly conjure up on our own.
As I laid there last night, allowing a million questions to consume me, a song came on the radio by the group Casting Crowns, giving a peace to me, silencing my seemingly inescapable questions.
“I wish I knew how
All my fears and all my questions
Are gonna play out
In a world I can't control
When I'm lost in the mystery
To You my future is a memory
Cause You're already there
You're already there
Standing at the end of my life
Waiting on the other side
And You're already there
You're already there.”
No comments:
Post a Comment