The Safest Place in the World
"Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord."
Jeremiah 1:8
This week our Children's Ministry Director allows her college age son to fly to Jerusalem for a year of study at Hebrew University. Her emotional and spiritual challenge relates to the fact that Israel is currently at war with the Palestinian terrorist group known as Hezbollah and is engaging them in southern Lebanon. Tensions are high throughout the region and, like any mother, Julie is nervous about allowing her son to travel there.
A missionary was once asked about the lack of safety in his region and he replied that the safest place in the world is in the center of God's will. What he meant, I think, is that in the center of God's will one will be kept safe from all evil for as long as God ordains. Our first question, then, should not be, "Is it safe?" but rather, "Is it God's will?" If so, then that is where we must be and it is safe. We will be kept safe from Satan's terror, including that which the evil prince inspires in the lives of evil men and women around us. We will be safe - until our time is up. I know that this thought, and this place, may not feel as secure as you wish, nevertheless - it is the safest place in the world.