Protecting Your Home

A Series on the Psalms – a collection of prayers
Feeling unprotected
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Psalm 90 

[Life is full of emotions. The book of Psalms is a collection of prayers that express our emotions which are the cry of our soul for hope. In this series, we will be looking in the mirror of the Psalms, to learn more about ourselves and our Lord.]

 

Home is supposed to be a safe place. Everything that’s important to you is kept there: family pictures, documents and worldly possessions. It’s where you live with the people that you love... your family. If someone breaks into your home, you feel unprotected and vulnerable.

 

A few years after moving to Columbus, our home was broken into during the daytime. My wife and I were working. As a result, our nine-year-old daughter discovered the burglary when she came home from school. The back door was broken, and the burglar had placed a kitchen knife on the counter.

 

In Psalm 90, Moses felt unprotected. Part of his reason was due to God’s anger.

 

⁷ We wither beneath your anger;
    we are overwhelmed by your fury.
⁸ You spread out our sins before you—
    our secret sins—and you see them all.           NLT

 

Even life itself left Moses feeling vulnerable.

 

¹⁰ Our days may come to seventy years,
    or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
    for they quickly pass, and we fly away.          NIV

 

As Moses prayed about this, he was reminded about who God is and His love.

 

¹ Lord, through all the generations
    you have been our home!
² Before the mountains were born,
    before you gave birth to the earth and the world,
    from beginning to end, you are God.               NLT

¹⁴ Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
    that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.              NIV

We do a lot of things to protect our home, ourselves and our loved ones. We put locks on our doors and fences around our yards. We have a security system installed. We put our money in the bank. We tell our children to not get in a car with a stranger.

 

All of these are good things to do. But the best thing is to pray. By doing this, we not only remind ourselves about who God is and His love for us, but also call upon Him as our refuge and home... a very safe place to be.

 

⁹ If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
    and you make the Most High your dwelling,
¹⁰ no harm will overtake you,
    no disaster will come near your tent.  NIV    Psalm 91

 

Copyright 2024 Joseph B Williams

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

Security Blanket

1 John 5:18-20

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20John%205%3A18-20&version=NIV;NLT

 

 

In the comic strip Peanuts, the character of Linus is always shown carrying his security blanket and sucking his thumb. If a cartoon strip character could have feelings, Linus would have felt protected. We all have insecurities and turn to different things to deal with them; to feel protected.

 

Many people turn to their spouse or significant other. Children naturally look to their parents. Students to their teachers. Addicts to their drug. The haves to their possessions. Many put up an emotional wall to protect themselves from being hurt. Anger, intimidation, abuse – all can be tools of protection.

 

Here’s what John wrote about being protected; about feeling secure.

 

¹⁸ We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them. ¹⁹ We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.          NLT

 

We live in a world “under the control of the evil one”. There are dangers everywhere. Yet, as a child of God, we can rest in the assurance, in the security, that our Heavenly Father will protect us.

 

In verses 18-20, there are three “we know” statements in the New Living Translation. The first two are in the above quote. Here’s the third.

 

²⁰ And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.            NLT

 

When you combine these three “we know” statements, here’s what you get: Because we know that God’s Son holds his children securely; because we know that we are God’s child; therefore, we know the true God and live in fellowship with Him.

 

That’s enough knowledge for even Linus to give up his security blanket.