Security

Below is a snippet of the Bright Lights lesson I've been writing for this Friday. We've been studying Faith and this week is on Security In The Lord. ~Jenny

Growing up on Long Island, my sisters and I loved the Yankees baseball team. I really didn’t know the first thing about professional baseball (and I still don’t) but Dad liked the Yankees, and so did his dad before him. So we liked the Yankees too.
One day Dad announced that he was going to take us to Yankee Stadium for a baseball game! We were so excited. We drove into the city and entering the huge stadium, proceeded to find our seats. They were really high up. We kept climbing more and more steps! I felt dizzy and was scared to turn around. At last we found the seats listed on our tickets. By now more than one of us was crying (we were much younger then, by the way). We were so high up it felt like we were just going to tumble down, down, down, right into the baseball field!
Then Dad had an idea. He took our extra sweatshirts and tied them around our seats like a seat belt. “There,” he said. “Now you can’t fall down!”
We breathed a sigh of relief and were able to enjoy the rest of the baseball game. We felt secure.

God is able to hold us and keep us from tumbling. Security is knowing that God will never leave us nor forsake us. Security means to trust, feel safe, to be without anxiety and free from care. Other words for security are safety, confidence, assurance, and refuge.
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

Where Is Your Security?
The Only One worthy of our trust is Jesus Christ. He is Eternal. He is the Rock. Only in Christ we will be safe.
Yet many people think that Christ is not enough to keep them safe. They trust in themselves, in other people, or in their possessions to keep them safe and happy. But only God is eternal. Only God is in control. Nothing else will ever satisfy us or give us real security. No one else can promise to never leave or forsake us!
“Whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he” (Proverbs 16:20).

The Danger of Trusting In Ourselves:
The Sunday School Times told, not long ago, about a drunkard, very conscious of his weakness and helplessness, who was urged to “Sign the Pledge and keep it.”
“But,” cried the distressed man, “I do not want something to keep; I need something to keep me!”
Soon after that, thank God, he found the Lord Jesus as his Savior, of whom it is written, “He is able to keep” (II Timothy 1:12).
The Bible tells us over and over of the weakness of man. Only when we realize our utter helplessness will we see God’s amazing power! He is sovereign and holy. We can do nothing good without Him. “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; the weakness of God stronger than men…That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (I Corinthians 1:25, 31).
In Exodus 17, Israel was waging war with the wicked nation of Amalek, and Israel was losing. Moses went up onto the mountain to cry out to the Lord. Verse 11 says, “And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.” In the same way, unless our hands are risen in surrender to the Lord, we will never be able to do anything! Only by His grace and strength do we live. We can do nothing on our own.

The Danger of Trusting In Man:
Psalm 25:29 says, “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.”
The Pharisees feared man above the Lord. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells about how they tithed, prayed, and fasted all for the glory of themselves, so that others would think well of them! Because this they had no reward from their Father in heaven (Matthew 6:1). We need to be sure that we love the Lord’s reward rather than the reward of men!

The Danger of Trusting In Possessions:
A young man once came to Jesus and asked, “What shall I do that I may have eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me” (Matthew 19:21). The young man went away sad, because he was very rich.
Why didn’t the young man want to give all of his possessions away? He thought they made him happy. He thought that they made him safe. He didn’t realize that in holding on to the earthly, temporal things, he was giving up eternal life with God!
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

Psalm 20:7 says, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.”