Safety In An Unsafe World?

Just a few days ago my blog post title was “How Safe is Your Home?”  This was not about personal security, but about your home being a safe haven.

In light of the tragedy in Newtown, CT, I want to revisit safety in another way.

Our emotions are all over the place after hearing something like what happened at Sandy Hill Elementary on Friday.  We are filled with overwhelming sadness and compassion for the families who lost their loved ones.  We are shocked and outraged that someone could do this.  And we fear that if it happened there could it happen where we are.

And the hardest…

Knowing our children also fear that if it happened there could it happen to them, at their schools.

So, what do we tell them?

Do we lie telling them not too worry, it can’t happen here.  Do we tell them Mommy and Daddy will always protect them?  Do we turn off the media all together and act like it didn’t happen?   Do we not let them see us cry?  Do we brush aside their questions?

It’s hard to know exactly what to say when our own minds are reeling as to how this could happen.  But this I believe…

We live in a fallen world that needs a Savior.  Jesus came in to the world because we are all sinners in need of rescue.  He is our only Hope.

Anything less is false hope.

We don’t know if our children will be safe.  If we can always protect them.  Or, if we will be safe.

But if Jesus is the only place true safety comes from, this is the only assurance we can give to our kids. Use this opportunity to give them Jesus. Listen to what their fears are and then together go to His Word… Psalm is a good place to start.

Psalm 18:2 “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.”

Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear …”

Psalm 118:6 “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

If you read throughout Psalm, you’ll see the psalmists did not restrain their various emotions before the Lord.  You’ll find fear, anger, loneliness, frustration, joy, praise and so on.

The Lord wants our honest prayers.  It is there that He meets us where we are.  We don’t have to sugar-coat our prayers or act like we aren’t feeling ways that we are.  Instead we are free to pray our pain.

Even in talking with your children, don’t be afraid to say you don’t know the ways of God.  But teach them that even though we don’t understand we still have a heavenly Father who is always near.  A Father who sent His only Son in to this fallen world to redeem a people for Himself.  A Father who can now look on us, sinners, with favor because of the perfect life and sacrificial death of His Son.  A heavenly Father who alone is our eternal security.

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