In the passage Jesus is being arrested and Peter in anger and defense of Jesus draws his sword and hacks off one of the soldier’s ears. Peter was doing everything in his power to protect the person he loved. He was protecting Jesus, he was protecting his way of life, and he was securing everything he valued. There was only one problem, Peter didn’t understand that it wasn’t his job to protect Jesus, it wasn’t his job to protect himself, it wasn’t his job to protect his way of life.
As the Olympics approached this week one story kept taking away from the actual Olympics. In an age of global terrorism the stories seemed to focus more on the security measures that have been put in place for the Olympics this year. I have seen numerous stories about the readiness and the security measures that have been put in place in Athens for the two-week event.
In our nation we have become focused on protecting ourselves from that which we cannot control. Our cars have more safety features than you can count, every year there is more and more safety equipment, safety guidelines, or procedures that we should learn and follow all designed to protect us from the unknown, and from the unexpected.
In our government the politicians are in a race to see who can make the country more secure, who can close the holes the best, who can protect us from the unexpected, and the unknown. Security has become a national past time, lawyers make millions every year because people were not adequately secured from the unexpected and from the unknown. Every thing has a warning label all to help us live more secure lives.
And slowly it began to dawn on me, that while all of these measures have their place, we each in our own lives are looking for some measure of security, some measure of protection from the unexpected and the unknown. Some of us rely on bank accounts, some of us on family, some of us on ourselves, and some of us don’t know what to rely on.
As I read the passage about Peter I couldn’t help but think about how misguided he was, and how impulsive he seemed and how much like us he really is.
In our lives we so often strive to provide our own security, just like Peter we take the protection into our own hands. We have many fears that encircle us on a daily basis, how will I provide for my family, how can I protect them, how do I make the right choices? Our lives are spent trying to resolve those fears and give comfort to ourselves and to our families. And, so we constantly push to pad ourselves from danger, and like a squirrel we use all of our resources to insulate us from unknown times. This is all well and good, until it comes to the point when we find that we are trusting only in ourselves and we are no longer trusting in God to provide for us. Yes, we are to work, yes we are to provide, but we are to continually remember that truly we are not the ones providing. For in all of our work at best we can only manage to put up a thin screen between us and the rest of the world.
As I watched the affects of hurricane Charley this last week I couldn’t help but notice in the pictures what unbelievable destruction there was. Homes ripped apart by the winds, roofs peeled off, trailers that looked like bombs had been placed within them. As I watched the pictures and was amazed at the devastation, I began to see something. Amongst all the destroyed homes one would sit untouched, amongst the exploded trailers one would sit unscathed. Sometimes our preparation and security measures are spent in the wrong place, just like the measures taken in St. Petersburg all of those people were evacuated and all the plans were made to prepare for a storm that never came to them.
Using our God given common sense is a good thing and we should use it to help us deal with uncertainty, but this only serves to prove that with all of our efforts and with all of our preparation, sometimes the storm changes course. Sometimes the storm doesn’t hit where we thought it would, and so it hits us in a place we weren’t expecting. It is only then that we begin to realize that with all of our preparations we cannot protect ourselves. We are but a ship on the seas, being tossed about, we struggle continually to keep the ship afloat and all that we hold dear safe from harm, but the control is not in our hands.
So we are left with this, if we cannot protect ourselves what are we to do? Do we just sit back and wait to be drowned by the waves that crash against us? Is there nothing we can do? The answer is here.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Security is based on trust. When we realize that it is not up to us to be our security system, the only thing left is to trust. Some trust in body guards, some trust in home security systems, some trust in their banks accounts, some trust in themselves. But, as for us, as for Christians, we are given a promise to have our needs supplied, as long as we trust in the Lord. When we focus on following God and his righteousness all of these things will be given to us. And, yes there will be things that happen in our lives, the storm may change direction, something unknown or unexpected may happen, but when it does we have a place to go, we have a refuge to hide in.
And so in our lives we need to begin to find ways that we can trust in the Lord, and rely on the promises and hope that he gives us for our lives. In a time when the economy is struggling we seek to protect our finances, even if that means holding back from what God wants us to do. We end up holding back the very thing that God gave us to begin with. When I was about 13 years old I was taken to the harness racing track. At the track my mother gave me 4 dollars to place on horses, so with her help I made bets on two races. Both of them won, I left with $15 in my pocket. But, what I remember most about that night, was when my mom asked for me to buy her a sundae at Mcdonalds. I am ashamed to say that I refused to buy her a 1 dollar sundae with the very money that she had supplied for me, sure I did the work, but she provided the resources. It wasn’t until she questioned my motives that I agreed to buy her the sundae, but then it was too late. You know, I would do just about anything if I could just buy my mom that sundae.
How often are we like this with God? Refusing to offer him what he gave us to begin with, is just like what I did back at the track. I’m not saying that we owe God, but I am asking where we need to be a little more faithful to him, and where we need to trust him more to supply the needs of our own lives, the lives of our family and friends, and the needs of the church.
Remember, there is a…
Big difference between taking something by faith, and taking something for granted.
Find the areas in our lives that God is calling us to release to him.
For all things work for the good of the Lord and those called according to his purpose.
Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
4There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
6 The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
