Security, when Everything Else is Insecure


By Pastor Dan Kennedy

© October 9, 2016

www.pastorkennedy.com


This week the East Coast experienced a horrific hurricane.  A few days ago folks living on the West Coast were warned of the potential of an immediate earthquake around the notorious San Andreas Fault Line – evidently there are also parallel fault lines now.  Seismologists, not long ago, have also warned those living in the Northwest of the potential devastating rupture of the Cascadia Fault Line, predicted sometime soon.


·      How secure are we in our world?

o   Hurricanes and earthquakes, wild fires, floods, terror plots, war?

·      How secure are our country’s power grids, infrastructures and digital data?

·      How secure are our financial institutions?

·      How secure is our personal financial wellbeing?

·      How secure is our health?

·      How secure are we from accidents…even major, life-threatening accidents, or debilitating diseases?

·      How secure is our relationships with others?

o   How quickly can misunderstandings or disagreements change relationships?

·      How secure is our relationship with God?


How secure are we?  How secure is anything in this world?


Throughout the Psalms, King David expresses his primary source of security.


·      His security was not in his exceptional military troops,

·      It was not in his extensive wealth,

·      It was not in his ability or dynamic personality,

·      It was not in his anointing by God for his vital position as King of Israel – and God’s promise that the succession of kings through his posterity would one day have eternal dominion – in the Messiah, Jesus Christ.


King David’s security was established on a singular foundation.


David trusted in his God, Yahweh (YWHW) to be his security…his “refuge”.  Over forty times in the Psalms, King David declared that God, and God alone, was his refuge – his “security”!


The following verses are a sampling of verses on God being our “refuge,” in the Psalms.


Ps 5:11

But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.


Ps 9:9

The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.


Ps 16:1

Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge.


Ps 18:2

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.


Ps 18:30

As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.


Ps 31:2

Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.


Ps 34:8

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.


Ps 36:7

How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.


Ps 37:40

The LORD helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.


Ps 46:1

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.


Ps 57:1

Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me, for in you I take refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.


Ps 62:8

Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.


Ps 71:3

Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go; give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.


Ps 94:22

But the Lord has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.


Ps 91:2

I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”


Ps 118:8, 9

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans.

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.


Ps 119:114

You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.


David placed the hope of his security only in God.


Why Are People in this World Today So Insecure?

What causes the pain of insecurity to cloud each of our lives?


The Underlying Destabilization of “Security” for all of Humankind is:


Our Fear of the Unknown Certainty of Death


Hebrews 2:14–15

14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.


Innately, we do not know how long we are going to live and have a certain foreboding of death and what lies beyond – so we naturally fear it.


·      At Death we know we will have ultimate accountability before God for what we have done – good or bad.

·      At Death we completely leave our loved ones on earth.

·      At Death we can no longer care for any responsibilities on earth – to experience its benefits or liabilities.

·      At Death, who I am and who I hope to be will cease in this life, forever.

·      At Death my future is either heaven or hell.


There are several levels of our life that are directly affected by the insecurity originated by our fear of the unknown and of death.


Insecurity and Fear bombards our Self-Confidence


o   Insecurity in who I “feel” that I am do I have a purpose in this short life and am I fulfilling it?

o   Insecurity in how others view me – does God see me as valuable, and what do other think?

o   Insecurity, in what I hope to be and the uncertainty of gaining what I would like to attain in this life before I die.

o   Insecurity in the certainty of knowing what kind of relationship I have with God and what my eternal destiny will be.


Self-confidence is always undermined because we do things we know to be wrong, and we feel guilty about doing them.  We want to feel good about ourselves, but unfortunately the uncomfortability of our guilt follows us and inhibits us from feeling squeaky clean about life.


(We either find ways to bury our guilt deeper so it won’t bother us so much, or we seek to find profound cleansing from guilt.)


Jesus cleanses guilt, He doesn’t just bury it deeper.

This is the reason for faith and Salvation in Jesus Christ:

Jesus bore the guilt of our sin on the cross

and paid the penalty for our sin.

When we accept God’s forgiveness and cleansing from sin by faith

through the Redemption and Cleansing that Christ has provided for us,

we are fully washed from the guilt of our sin before God’s Holy Throne!



Five levels of our life that are directly affected by our insecurity


1.  Self-Confidence Insecurity and Fearundermined by Guilt: (an area we have just discussed.)


2.  Family Insecurity and Fear:  Insecurity in how I can adequately provide for my family, keep them safe, and see them succeed.


3.  Financial Insecurity and Fear:  Insecurity of how I can live, survive and build toward stronger financial security for the future.


4.  Physical Insecurity and Fear:  Insecurity regarding my health and wellbeing…from accidents that may cripple me, and debilitating diseases that may disable me.


5.  Life Insecurity and Fear:  The insecurity of my Life in a Death Assured World.


Jesus came to “free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”


Jesus frees us by breaking the power of the fear of death’s bondage; giving us His purpose now, and eternal life after death!

Besides the fetters of the fear of death, from Satan, what else keeps us tied to this Bondage of Insecurity and Fear?


Our Façade of Self-Security

On the news we saw a broadcaster interviewing someone who would not leave his home unprotected, located in a mandatory evacuation zone, facing, hurricane Matthew, the storm of the century.  A seasoned meteorologist, knowing the power and potential devastation of the storm, said that folks like him, who would not leave, had “Misguided Egos of Invincibility” – expressing a façade of self-security because they felt that by staying they could somehow protect their “stuff” from 140 mile-an-hour hurricane force winds, a deluge of driving rain and a massive storm surge.  These self-deceived people are realistically unaware of the destructive power and potential death such a storm could bring – to their very life, notwithstanding the devastation to the things they thought were so precious that they were trying to preserve.


“Misguided self-confidence” is all that can be said for those relying on their own ability to provide security for something that cannot be given security.


Walking in Darkness:  The Problem of the Lack of God’s Light

When we are walking in the darkness of our own insecurities how do we find adequate light which keeps us from being tripped up and vulnerable by hazardous things we cannot see on a darkened path?


  1. We light our own torches to see in the insecurity of our darkness, which are fueled by:

o   Carnal knowledge which has rejected God’s existence,

o   Godless, worldly traditions,

o   Public opinion,

o   Spiritual deceptions, and

o   Political correctness.


  1. Many in the world are blindly walking forward in life, on a dark path, propelled by their own “Ego of Misguided Invincibility,” with total trust in the artificial lights of the world’s system, generated from the mainframes of godless, humanistic philosophy.

  2. How dark then, is the darkness radiating from the lampposts of the humanistic “artificial guiding lights,” illuminating the broad road to destruction?

Jesus tells us about the depth of darkness engulfing those on the “wide road”:


Matthew 6:22–23

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!


If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!


Light, coming from God, is found in the illumination generated by faith in God’s Almighty Power, Ability, and Wisdom…through His Word.


Isaiah 50:10

10   Who among you fears the Lord

and obeys the word of his servant?

Let him who walks in the dark,

who has no light,

trust in the name of the Lord

and rely on his God.


(Let’s repeat that verse again!)


10  Who among you fears the Lord

and obeys the word of his servant?

Let him who walks in the dark,

who has no light,

trust in the name of the Lord

and rely on his God.


     This verse is for those who have “no visible light” on their own, regarding the circumstances they are facing, but trust in God as their hope…


Contextually in this passage, Isaiah was speaking to many faithless Israelites as they were facing the eventual destruction of their country by the Babylonians, and the need for his countrymen to trust in God to carry them through the difficult coming days.  God’s promise in this verse can also be realistically transported to any person trusting God, in any generation, who is facing uncertain or difficult times.  Because ultimately, our only enduring hope is in God, in any situation, during any age…not from resources manipulated for our good by our own hands, for our own glory.


(Now let’s go on to verse 11 visualizing those who walk in the lights of their own making.)


Isaiah 50:11


11   But now, all you who light fires

and provide yourselves with flaming torches,

go, walk in the light of your fires

and of the torches you have set ablaze.

This is what you shall receive from my hand:

You will lie down in torment.


For those who continue to reject God and His Word, God gives these over to more and more calloused mind-sets against Him.  As the carnal person continues to follow their human-lit bonfires deeper and deeper into the caverns of their own fallen depravity, they will eventually reap from the Hand of God what they themselves have sown.  


An Anchor to Secure our Spiritual Soul

What do all those verses in Psalms tell us about that which keeps life stable?


·      Spiritual Stability:  Our relationship with God is the only thing that will truly stabilize all the dynamics in our life.


When we make God our refuge, we can trust God and His Word, through His Holy Spirit, to guide our daily path.


Psalm 119:105

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”


Psalm 119:11

“I have hidden your word in my heart

that I might not sin against you.”


Romans 8:14

Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”


Psalm 18:28

“You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning;

my God turns my darkness into light.”


No matter what happens in life…good or bad, all will be profoundly affected by our relationship with God.  We will be “saved” and “protected” by Him who is over all – whether in this life or the next to come.


In our spiritual relationship with God we can have security when everything else is insecure!


Psalm 91:1-2

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust.”

Proverbs 3:5–6

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make your paths straight.