My local grocery store has security guards. Maybe they’ve always been there but now they are uniformed and obvious and I don’t mind a bit.
I recently spent some time in a few airports where I felt entirely safe, in part because there was an obvious security presence.
Then I wandered a bit through downtown Seattle as the airport adventures were coming to an end. There were many police evident and I felt safe and secure throughout my trek.
Security is a common word. We each probably have a simple explanation in our mind about what security means … protection, guarding, or the strategies in place to provide those things. All good stuff. But it’s worth taking a moment to really consider the source of our security. The root word, so to speak.
Secure. That’s what we are after – feeling secure. For some that might mean settled, comfortable. For some it might mean held close, held fast. For some it might mean having enough of what we require or want. Whatever secure means for you, it has to be certain, stable, unyielding.
Sometimes we don’t want the security, but prefer to be loosely held so we can do whatever we want. But then, of course, we end up looking like a just-caught fish flopping around with dwindling strength. I haven’t caught a fish for a long long time, but that is a vivid memory from childhood. Probably why I think I don’t like fishing anymore.
As I re-read this bit above, I’m convicted of the “it’s all about me” tone. This illustration starts that way … and, yes, maybe it ends that way, but hopefully in a humbled way. You decide.
Within the last year, PCC has upgraded their security system with cameras inside and outside the building. It’s a good thing to have oversight upon the building in the hours when someone isn’t expected to be there. But also over the hours when people are expected to be there.
When the upgraded cameras were first installed, because it is not uncommon for me to be there when others are not, I felt a little revealed. I remember thinking, Colleen, you cannot eat as many peppermint marshmallows from the coffee bar as you used to! So silly, right? Were you ever told by your parents “We have eyes in the back of our heads and you will always be caught?” I was and it was a good thing. And now the church building has eyes on me!
But over the course of a few weeks, the Lord allowed my thoughts to adjust from Someone can see me to I’m not alone; I am securely watched.
And that is a met need, to be secure. It is the difference from being the girl, the young woman, who was always afraid, uncertain, unseen. To seeing God’s care over me in so many ways. He offers that security to each who will seek Him and trust that His words, His love, His forgiveness bring the only eternal security. And while secure, it also brings freedom from all the burdens and the I’m all alone thinking in my head.
The prophet Jeremiah declared this truth over the devastated (because of their repeated rebellion against God’s commands) homeland of the Hebrew nation. It’s true for every repentant heart …
6 Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security. 7 I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and rebuild them as they were at first. 8 I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me. 9 And this city shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them. They shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it. Jeremiah 33.6-9
May this be a day for you to declare your desire for security, new-found or increased security in knowing, trusting, humbly submitting to the work of the Holy Spirit in your life – Jesus sent Him to be with you, to do the life-changing work required of each of us until we see Jesus face-to-face. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!
You are so loved, Colleen
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