Monday Reflection – February 07, 2022
God’s Safety and Security

He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge. Psalm 91:4

In a nation where crime and violence is prevalent and racing out of control, there is the growing cry for action to ensure the security of us all. In a world where war exists and there is the ever-present threat of more war, humanity’s safety and security can hardly be guaranteed. Safety and security is one of our basic human needs as humans. Based on Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the most basic is our physiological needs including food and water, sufficient rest, clothing and shelter, overall health, and reproduction. Next is our safety needs including protection from violence and theft, emotional stability and well-being, health security, and financial security. Thus, there is the real and deep-seated need for safety and security on the part of us as humans.

The Psalmist in chapter 91 provides an answer for our lack of security and safety. For David, there is true security in trusting in the almighty God, and those who dwell under the shelter of our God and Saviour are shielded and protected under the shadow of His wing. He is our Safeguard and our strong Shield! He is our Defence and our almighty Defender. We can positively affirm that the Lord is our Refuge and our Fortress. The Psalmist is using the metaphor of a bird with his mother. God is the protective mother who feeds, nurtures, and protects her young. The image is meant to invoke safety and warmth when we dwell in God. In his shelter, he will cover us with his feathers and we will find refuge. God is our protector because he is faithful. Our relationship with him always rests on his unfailing faithfulness. There is no other place for the Christian to look for refuge. There is nowhere safer to be than in the arms of the Father. To come under his wings to find refuge would mean looking to him in prayer, looking to his word to see how to live, and then living out his commands, acknowledging his presence the whole way.

The Lord is likened to a bird whose wings of protection overshadow us and whose strong-arm guards us when danger approaches or when we are overcome by the heat of the day or the perils of the night. We can boast that the Lord our God is our never-failing help in time of trouble, and that His abiding faithfulness has become our shield and protection. We know that the cruel enemy comes as a roaring lion and morphs into a snake in the grass, seeking by every means to attack, injure, harm, and discourage God’s children. We know that the devil is a liar and murderer who deceives the world and seeks to shipwreck the faith of all God’s children. But God has promised to cover us with His pinions and provide refuge under His wings. God has promised to protect us from harm and danger, to protect our minds from discouragement and despair, and to safeguard our hearts with His perfect peace. What tremendous security is ours, for we are kept under His protective wings and covered with His pinions.

Yet, we must remind ourselves that God’s safety and security is ours not because of own merit, but because of His goodness and grace. It is nothing to do with our own worthiness or virtue that we are furnished with such heavenly privileges, but it is entirely founded on His unswerving fidelity and His never-ending faithfulness towards the children of men. Indeed, God’s grace and mercies are new every morning and His promises never fail. Let’s place our entire lives and complete trust in God who provides the safety and security that we always need.

Jermaine Gibson 

Saturday Reflection – 05 February 2022

Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.” Psalm 33:12

Last week, we spent a moment to reflect on the many challenges that we face as a people; the things that leave us frustrated, perturbed, and despondent. And it seems that since then, as almost to rub salt into the wounds, we hear of more incidents of disaster and destruction, and are left to wonder, what condition is our nation in, at this time. But even as we reflect on this question, the Psalmist in today’s watchword, reflects on the goodness of God, and spends the time to describe God’s sovereignty, faithfulness, and kindness, all for which we are called to rejoice.

In his reflection on these things, we hear in verses 8-11 “Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.” (KJV) Almighty God is in control of the world and all its inhabitants, and will move in accordance with His heart and character, to fulfil His sovereign will and purpose. We serve a good God, who has purposed to bless His people. With that thought, we encounter our watchword. The songwriter says: “All the other gods, they are the works of men, but You are the most High God, there is none like You.” With all of this goodness, God’s sovereignty, and faithfulness that the Psalmist describes, I believe that he makes clear, that we will experience these mercies once we stay connected to the Vine. It is not just for us as individuals, but the nation who will be faithful to God will ever find God faithful to them.

For every time God’s chosen people wandered from God and did evil in God’s sight, they encountered disaster and eventually was overthrown, led away in captivity into Assyria and Babylon. When they served God faithfully, they and all that they did prospered, and the word of God was evident in their lives, that “if God is for us, then who can be against us?” Nowadays, we can certainly identify with the many ways we deviate from God’s precepts and principles as a people, the things that we ought to detest as God’s people, that we’ve accepted and even begun to normalize. The times when we were concerned with ourselves, and our own circle, and have not spent the time to concern ourselves with the mandate of Christ, that His transforming gospel would reach the whole world. It is interesting that as the people sought to return to their homeland amidst the mess around them that word of God to them was “… seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:7 NIV)

In the midst of the mess around us, the answer, I believe, brothers and sisters, is stated for us clearly in today’s watchword. But it takes more than just mere acknowledgement, mere lip service, while our hearts remain far from God. We must take the time to reflect, to repent and to shine the light of Christ within us. There is just something about the transforming power of Christ, but others will never know it, our nation will never experience it, if there is no one who will commit to speak of it, to teach it and to show it. For when one light ignites the other, that light will ignite another, and another, and another and soon the whole world will be lit. The idols will come down, reverence will become worship and obedience, and we will all be able to sing of the goodness of God in the land of the living.

Until next week, we are called not to shrink in fear and anguish but to be wise yet active. Active in our prayer and call upon God for divine intervention, and active as children of God in being genuine, intentional, and committed to His way and in sharing Jesus’ love and way of living that the darkness may turn to dawning, and the dawning to noon-day bright, as Christ’s great kingdom will come on earth, the kingdom of love and light. Amen.

Dominic J. Blair