Secure

To know you’re going to be ok. That, in the words of Bob Marley, “Everything’s Gonna To Be Alright”.

To know you’ll still have your job on Monday. And Tuesday. And Wednesday. To know you’ll be able to cover the bills. That the spot on the x-ray will be benign. That your kids will return home safely. That the car will last another year.

To know you have some sense of security.

With that in mind, I’ve got some bad news: There is no such thing as security. No guarantees about your job, your finances, your 401(k) or what Monday has in store for you. Moreover, there’s no way to 100% protect yourself from cancer. No magic cloak to use to protect your kids. And your car? Make sure you check your oil, Mr. Murphy.

Depressing? Sure it is. Which is why most people avoid it. Talking about it. Thinking about it. Even acknowledging that, yes, there are trials in life, but no security. Not in this world anyway.

And we, as a nation, are obsessed with security. “As long as I can just make it through this week, everything will be fine”, “As long as I have ‘x’ amount of dollars in my account, I’m covered”, “As long as I don’t have to deal with that right now, I’ll be fine”.

Is that living? Is that how we’re supposed to get through life? Absolutely not.

It’s times in my life when I’m trying to create my own security that I read the Book of Job. Remember, Job was a righteous man who had everything he could hope for, which made him a prime target for Satan (see...it’s not just you).

Satan tells God that his beloved servant Job wouldn’t be so righteous and so loving if God made him, what’s the word? “Uncomfortable.” You know, put the screws to him a little. But God (being “God”) knows Job’s heart and tells Satan that Job will stay faithful. Go ahead, test him. Trial after miserable trial, catastrophe after catastrophe, the unthinkable comes upon Job until he looses everything. Everything. Except his devotion to God.

It’s only here, at his breaking point, when he’s sitting on a simmering pile of what’s left of his empire and covered with lesions that Job demands to speak with God. Not to curse or defy him, just to ask what in the world is going on. As you read the entire book, you can feel Job’s angst and pain escalate as he cries out to him. And, this is the part I want you to read whenever you are crying out to God, wanting to know, “What in the world is going on here, God?”. Check out Job 38:1-7:

Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said:
“Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.
Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone-while the morning stars sang together and all the
angels [a] shouted for joy?”

And God is just getting warmed up. As you read the following chapters God, the ultimate defense attorney, piles up more and more evidence of his power for his closing argument. He demonstrates his true might. His awesome power. His unsurpassed knowledge. His perfect timing. And his love for all things he created. As well as, catch this, his never-ceasing provision for those who love him.

In the end, God offers far more than an explanation to Job. But real security. In Him.

100% Guaranteed.