Is It Safe?

I serve a God who is wild – who does things I know not of, whose ways and thoughts are higher than mine, whose purposes reach further than I can now see. But does being wild mean He isn’t safe? The issue is my understanding of the term “safe.” Because it’s not just my physical being that is at stake – it’s the eternal spirit He has created within me. So from that perspective, I am safe in His hands whether I am in the fire or standing outside.

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul . . . . Are not 2 sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows . . . . Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt 10:28-31, 39).

At the same time, I must realize it isn’t His goal for me to suffer. In fact, it’s the love of a Father that tries to shield a child from even the necessary lessons of the world – the stove is hot, running that fast means falling down and skinned knees.

What a tearing in our Father’s heart! He needs sold-out workers, laid-down lovers, who will run into the utter darkness to pull others out, but He knows the demons along the wayside. He sees the traps laid out in front of us, and with everything in Him, He wants to hold us back and protect us – but He can’t have both.

So here we are: bone and flesh, fragile and frail and susceptible. I’m discovering, however, that there is something about finding that safety in God that transcends the physical nature.

As you abandon yourself to the only One who can save you, you discover a recklessness that shocks and awes the heart of your Father. You find yourself in the unique position of trying to comfort Him as you prepare to charge the darkness and He wants to keep you in His arms just 5 more minutes . . .

But He knows he cannot shield you forever and still get done what needs done, so He does what only He can do – He takes every resource of Heaven and puts it at your command. He goes before you into the battlefield and gives you the plan. When there’s a break in the fighting, He rushes in and drenches you in the water of His presence to strengthen and refresh you. When the battle is over, He picks you up and carries you away into His heart to dress your wounds and heal your heart.

Sometimes you go in after the battle battered and bruised and saying, “God, I’m so tired.” But that time in His heart heals and strengthens you until you are asking to go back out again.

We see this most clearly in the life of Paul: “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my own life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me” (Acts 20:22-24).

It’s a dance I didn’t know existed, but has caught me up completely in its twists and turns. I throw myself at my Lover, He catches me and swings me around until I am dizzy with His presence. Together, we run into the world, into battle, into darkness until I am almost overcome, and then I run back into His heart. A few minutes, days, weeks there, and then we begin again . . .

Is it safe? Maybe, maybe not, depending on your definition. Maybe the best answer I can give comes from Song of Solomon 8:6-7 (MSG): “Love is invincible facing danger and death. Passion laughs at the terrors of hell. The fire of love stops at nothing – it sweeps everything before it. Flood waters can’t drown love, torrents of rain can’t put it out . . .”