AMY SANTARELLI |GUEST

I pushed my 4-year-old granddaughter on the swing while she chatted away. My attention was suddenly piqued as she ended her ramblings with the words, “But I know that God will keep me safe.” I was happy to hear her talking about God, but I also found myself pondering the accuracy of her theology. Is it true that God will keep us safe?

What does God’s protection entail and not entail? How do we properly understand this ourselves, as well as teach it to our children? We don’t want to tell them God will keep them safe and then when difficulty strikes, they feel God abandoned them, think He doesn’t care about them, or that He couldn’t or wouldn’t come through for them.

The Importance of Biblical Context

In the Bible we find many wonderful passages describing God’s care and protection of His people. But it is crucial that we practice good hermeneutics as we interpret those passages. We need to look at the context of the verses, who they were originally written to, and for what purpose.

Here’s an example from Deuteronomy 28:7:

 The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

To discern the context here, is it helpful to understand biblical covenants. The Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants come into play here with promises of a set-apart people, a special land for them, and God’s sustaining presence. These promises applied to a specific time, place, and people—the children of Israel during that time period. While these older administrations of the Covenant of Grace are fulfilled in the New Covenant, they are still significant to us now as they demonstrate the character of our God. He is trustworthy, able to keep His promises, and able to save His people from destruction.

Such Old Testament verses look forward to a spiritual fulfillment in Christ. The New Covenant demonstrates the solution to our biggest problem—not one of temporal safety, but of our need for lasting spiritual protection. Read what God offers His people in these verses:

But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. (2 Thess. 3:3)

 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:37-39)

…for God has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you. (Heb. 13:5)

Psalm 32 also reflects these truths. David begins by exclaiming the blessings of the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sins are covered, and against whom the Lord counts no iniquity. He goes on to describe the groaning and physical wasting that comes from unconfessed sin. Then he rallies with this in verse 7:

You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.

This is the spiritual protection that comes from being free from the weight and guilt of unconfessed sin. What a good God we have!

Trust in God’s Good Purposes

So then, what do we say to those who have suffered when bad things did happen to them? How are they to view God in their hardships?

Remember the fiery furnace in Daniel 3? The three friends said to the king, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (vv.17-18).

These brave young men understood their God was able to save but He may have a different purpose in mind. Similarly, Joseph’s story is full of betrayal and hardship. But at the end, we are given a glimpse behind the curtain when Genesis 50 reveals that though the brothers meant their betrayal of Joseph for evil, God meant it for good, to keep many people alive and sustain the Abrahamic Covenant.

We see God’s purposes again described in Romans 8:28-29 where it triumphantly exclaims that for His people, God works all things for good—the good of us becoming more like Christ. Is it not in the difficulties of life that God works the most in our hearts?

The Heidelberg Catechism says it beautifully:

Q: What is your only comfort in life and in death?

A: That I am not my own, but belong – body and soul, in life and in death – to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to Him, Christ, by His Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me whole-heartedly willing and ready from now on to live for Him.

Let us soak in these truths of God’s promises of presence and spiritual protection and teach them well to our children so we may all be steadfast in trials and confident of God’s love, no matter what.

Photo by Jake Melara on Unsplash