From the Editors December 15, 2014 Issue

Dwelling in safety

David C. Kennedy

We all want to feel safe, wherever we are. Human security measures, however much they are needed, can’t guarantee safety. But many have found safety through their understanding of God’s ever-present care and guidance.

When my sisters and I were growing up, our mother prayed daily for us, as she had learned to do through her study of Christian Science. Once when I was in high school, she felt a clear intuition that she should pray especially for my well-being. That same day I happened to eat lunch at home instead of in the school cafeteria. On returning to school after lunch, I found I had missed—by only some minutes, apparently—walking into the middle of a student riot, which had started at the entrance I always used and had ended up in the cafeteria. My mother was grateful she had heeded that intuition—and the experience impressed me deeply.

In a very real sense, our safety has to do with where we dwell. But this safe dwelling-place isn’t a particular location. It’s not a neighborhood, a country, a hideaway in the mountains, or a fortified compound. Our safe dwelling is what the Bible calls “the secret place of the most High.” The psalm says: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust” (Psalms 91:1, 2).

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