I want to talk a bit today about the feeling of safety. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, safety is considered basic and fundamental. What that means is that in order for one to progress up the pyramid of becoming a healthy confident self, they must first possess a sense of safety and security. Otherwise, the development of self is inhibited at best and corrupted at worst. There are many places humans seek that sense of security and safety. As young children, we seek that in our primary care givers. As we grow and mature we still seek safety and security in relationships – peers, teachers, employers, and in life-partners. We also tend to look inward for a sense of security. Most often, when our world around us is in chaos and uncertainty we grasp at maintaining control. This can often be seen in controlling behavior within relationships. Regardless of childhood experiences, we as adults still search for a sense of safety and security. Sometimes we place our trust in friends, family, doctors, teachers, even government. Though I’m optimistic that we have all experienced at least one relationship that has provided us with safety, sadly many of our experiences leave us lacking confidence and trust in others. This brings me to today’s topic: He knows! For me personally, I have come to realize the safest place I have found is in the hands of the One who Knows!

“In the beginning, God…”   Genesis 1:1

“I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”  Revelation 22:13

“The Mighty One, God, the LORD! He knows!”  Joshua 22:22 

 “He knows the way that I take”  Job 23:10

“He knows the secrets of the heart”  Psalm 44:21

“For He knows our frame”  Psalm 103:14

“For He knows worthless men, He sees iniquity”   Job 11:11

“He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him.”  Daniel 2:22

“He knows those who take refuge in Him.”  Nahum 1:7

“God is greater than our heart and He knows everything.” I John 3:20

This is especially true when I consider how little I know; how little we as humans know. This is the essence of the human experience: we desperately want to know. We want to feel in control of our environment. We don’t want to be deceived or worse yet, we don’t want to believe that we actually could be deceived. We want to believe we know everything, if not everything at least enough. But, the truth is, we just don’t know everything. We cannot see the end of a thing from its beginning.

“We sometimes tend to think we know all we need to know to answer these kinds of questions—but sometimes our humble hearts can help us more than our proud minds. We never really know enough until we recognize that God alone knows it all. But knowing isn’t everything. If it becomes everything, some people end up as know-it-alls who treat others as know-nothings. Real knowledge isn’t that insensitive. We need to be sensitive to the fact that we’re not all at the same level of understanding in this.”  I Corinthians 8 (MSG)

“Can I find out the deep things of God?”  Job 11:7

“Can I find out the limit of the Almighty?”  Job 11:7

“Where was I when God laid the foundation of the earth?” Job 38:4

“Can I speak to the clouds and they produce a flood?” Job 38:34

“Can I send forth lightnings?”  Job 38:35

“Is it by my command the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high?”  Job 39:27

“For now we see but a faint reflection of riddles and mysteries as though reflected in a mirror, but one day we will see face-to-face. My understanding is incomplete now, but one day I will understand everything, just as everything about me has been fully understood.” I Corinthians 13:12 (TPT)

We as humans have a tendency to become arrogant and not want to admit that we don’t know something. Or even, not that we don’t know something, but that our judgment is sound and must be right. Hence, the untold arguments and debates only flamed by the deceit of social media (but that’s another topic for another day). Arrogance is very dangerous ground when it comes to God.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

“The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.”  Proverbs 8:13

“As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.” James 4:16

There are times in this life that we are faced with much uncertainty. I’m not sure if we have ever lived in an age where that is truer than it is right now. We just want to know the outcome. We want to know we’ll be safe again. We want a sense of calm, reassurance, and a return to our comfortable “norm”. However, in our attempts at knowing, we have ended up not feeling safe and secure in our knowing (or lack thereof). Fear is the common side effect to this uncertainty (see prior post about fear). Fear is running rampant in our world today. There has been some research to show how fear impacts our brain’s ability to regulate emotions and consequently inhibits our decision making. So, what are we left with? What are we to do? For me, there seems to be 2 options… 1) Trust ourself. We are the master of our world. We know the answer. We are right. And we deal and cope with whatever comes our way.  From what I have observed of human nature, this eventually leads to hurt, bitterness, resentfulness, cynicism, anger. 2) Trust God. Humble ourselves. Acknowledge we don’t know everything, we can’t see everything. Acknowledge that only God knows the ending of a thing from its beginning and all the in-between. Trust that He is in control and that He is a good God.

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” Romans 11:33

“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Hebrews 11:6

“You save a humble people, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down.” II Samuel 22:28

“He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble His way.” Psalm 25:9

“My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.” Psalm 34:2

“The LORD lifts up the humble…” Psalm 147:6

“For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He adorns the humble with salvation.” Psalm 149:4

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.” Proverbs 11:2

“When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.” Psalm 56:3

“I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His Word I hope.” Psalm 130:5

“Receive instruction from His mouth and lay up His Words in your heart.” Job 22:22

This is why I have such confidence in Him, a sense of safety and security. I have no fear, because HIS perfect LOVE casts out fear (I John 4:18).

 “And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted…” Job 42:2

  “The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me…” Psalm 138:8

“the LORD has made everything for its purpose” Proverbs 16:4

  “In HIM… all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of His will…” Ephesians 1:7-9

“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.” Proverbs 19:21

  “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him…” I Corinthians 2:9

I know I listed a lot of scripture today and there are hundreds more I could have. If you are struggling today with fear, anxiety, depression, uncertainty, anger, cynicism or the like, I want to encourage you to shut off the TV, get off FaceBook, open The Book, humble yourself, and enter into the safety that can only be found in Jesus. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runs into it and is SAFE.” Proverbs 18:10. Be well, my friends. I read the end of the Book and HE wins!

In Matthew 22 verses 34 through 40, a pharisee attempted to test Jesus and asked him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 

Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” 

Let’s break down some of the wording here. The love Jesus spoke about in this reference is agape love. In Greek, and many other languages, they have multiple words to define our English word: love. To name a few, there is agape, phileo, philadelphia, and erastos, for example.  Agape love is clearly and definitively defined in I Corinthians 13 verses 1 through 8a and 13.

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

The author intentionally used the pronoun “your” to describe the relationship to God. The relationship was designed to be personal – not like the Israelites who wanted Moses to talk to God and then bring them the message. God’s initial and eternal desire has been and always will be to be a personal God to each person.

Looking more closely at the parts of the self we are to love God with: the heart, in the Greek, means thoughts, feelings, mind (inner being). The soul, in Greek, means breath, spirit, rational soul, vitality. The mind, in the Greek, means deep thought, imagination, and understanding. In Mark’s writings of these events, he includes the phrase “with all your strength”. In the Greek, strength here means power, ability, strength, might. We can think of that in terms of our physical body strength.

I believe this points to God’s understanding of how He designed us with different aspects or parts of this existence. We have feelings and emotions, we have thoughts and intellect, we have the breath of life that flows from God Himself, and we have a physical body. (I could divert here and discuss how uniquely made in God’s image we are (I have a study on this too). God has feelings and emotions, He has thoughts and intellect, He is the breath of life, and when He came in flesh, He had physical power and ability). Regardless, God knew exactly what He was saying in Deuteronomy 6:5 when He commanded the Israelites to love Him with everything they had. I have heard it said it’s easy to live for God hard and it’s hard to live for God easy. I think these scriptures bring understanding to that phrase. When we do love God with every part of our being it’s very easy to live for Him, to daily walk with Him. But, when we try to love Him with a portion, but not all, it’s difficult and frustrating.

Anyway, back to the words of the verses in Matthew. The verse that commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves literally means to love them in the same manner we love ourselves. Some may baulk at this, viewing it as selfish. Jesus knew exactly what He was talking about. It is possible to have a healthy love of self. It is also possible to hate oneself. Let me just say here, if we do not have a healthy love of self, there is NO way we can love others the way we are supposed to. Also, there’s a reason this commandment is second only to loving God. The only way we can have a healthy love of self is to have a healthy loving relationship with God – where God’s pure love flows from Him to us and back from us to Him. It’s a mutual relationship. Only when we can humbly accept God’s gracious love of us, can we then cultivate a healthy love of self. This is VERY difficult for many people. And this is why so many struggle to truly love God and love others correctly. This three-way love triangle is very intricately connected.

To the last phrase: “on these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Jesus was referencing the 600+ commandments outline by Moses for the Israelites to live by and all the words of the prophets recorded before His time. That is A LOT of writing, a lot of information, a lot of rules. This statement Jesus just made here is HUGE. If, and I want to stress if, we can get these first two commandments right, everything else will fall into place.

When we love God the right way, His way, it’s easy to hear His voice, to listen and discern His voice, to heed His instructions. When we love Him correctly, obedience is second nature. Loving Him correctly involves an unwavering trust of Him and His character. We know Him. When we love God the right way, we see ourselves the way He does: honestly. We begin to love ourselves in a healthy way, because we see ourselves as precious created children of our good, good Father. Then, loving others, our neighbors as ourselves flows easily and naturally. We see them as God sees them: precious, beloved, worth dying for.

It is no wonder Jesus gave the perfect example of loving a neighbor when He told the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). This man did not consider his own status or reputation. He just saw a man hurting and dying and had compassion on him.

Matthew 25:31-40 is the best example of how we show God we love Him, by loving on His most treasured creation. <3

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 

Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 

And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 

I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 

And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 

And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ 

I feel like this topic may very well be inexhaustible, but for today, I will wrap it up.

“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” Romans 11:33