Resting In His Safety

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!

   You have given me relief when I was in distress.

   Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

- Psalm 4:1

In peace I will both lie down and sleep;

   for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

- Psalm 4:8

David writes Psalm 4 in a time of great distress. As I read through this psalm, I loved the juxtaposition of the opening and closing lines. In verse 1, David is crying out to the Lord, demanding that He answer. He is raw and honest, and his desperation is apparent. And then, verse 8 closes with David stating that he is at complete peace and rest because the Lord is his source of safety.

Complete peace in the midst of chaos - this is what it means to be completely rooted in Christ.

I was visiting with a friend the other week who just had her first baby. A group of us gathered together in my living room, sharing food, laughing hysterically, and gawking at this beautiful little baby girl that was now the most important part of our friend group. If you know me and my friends… let’s just say we’re not a quiet bunch. We went back and forth telling stories, screeching with laughter, playing our favorite songs far too loud, and showing each other funny videos. There were even dance break interludes and a good amount of physical commotion.

We started off passing around this brand new baby, everyone eager to hold her, but all of the sounds startled her as she stared around trying to make sense of all these new people. It wasn’t long before the tears came and she was quickly wrapped up in a cloth baby carrier and strapped tightly to her mother’s chest. In moments she was fast asleep and, inevitably, the noise and commotion continued. And yet, she never woke. Until it was time to eat of course…

She didn’t find peace because all of the noise stopped - she found peace because she was connected to her source of safety and protection. The outside world didn’t get any quieter, but as soon as she was wrapped in the arms of her mother, she was able to sleep peacefully.

Oh dear friend, isn’t this what David did? Isn’t this what you long for?

In a world that is loud and chaotic and full of heart-wrenching emotion, how will we ever find peace? There’s a laundry list of reasons to worry and issues to grieve and things to be done. How do we NOT walk around with a high blood pressure and deep cynicism about life?

The baby slept in her Mother’s arms. David found rest in His heavenly Father’s presence. Where are you looking for peace? If it’s in your finances, relationships, friendships, or status - that peace won’t last for long. Oh, but friend, if you find peace in the presence of your Heavenly Father, when the noise picks up, when the world gets crazy, when everything falls apart - there will still be hurt, it will still be hard, but you will close your eyes and rest. Because, “You alone, O Lord, make us dwell in safety.”

It’s not easy. The enemy wants to deeply distract us, causing our distress to push us towards paralyzing fear and crippling exhaustion. In a 21st century, high pressure world, peace feels harder now than ever. But luckily, God’s instructions on how to find peace are simple: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). All we have to do is come to Him, let Him wrap us in His arms, and then we will find peace.

Praise God. Let’s rest in His presence today.

Cristina Schmitter

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