The Security of Knowing Love – By Pastor Dave Nieuwsma
One of the struggles our culture is walking through right now is living with an underlying fear, because of the uncertainty which daily is in front of us. And for each of us, that uncertainty may come from a different source. Whatever the source is, uncertainty can do one of two things, it can either slowly paralyze us, or it can cause us to lean into a source that will bring security.
A picture of this comes from our family when our children were young. Our youngest Matt would oftentimes experience fearful dreams. When they would occur he would come to our bedroom and Deb would go to our rocking chair and rock with him and sing to him, a song which was only for him. And in the security of someone who loved him, his fear subsided. Fear moved him to a place of wanting protection, which moved him out of a place of being paralyzed.
This picture is fresh in my mind because a few weeks ago, Matt and I were talking about memories of him growing up and he still remembered that as a favorite memory with Deb.
A similar picture is found in Ps. 131, where the Psalmist says
“But I have stilled and quieted my soul
like a weaned child with his mother
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel put your hope in the Lord
Both now and forevermore”
Israel needed a place of refuge and hope
Matt needed a place of refuge and hope
And…
We need a place of refuge and hope… and that hope comes through God who became one of us, so he can sympathize with our weaknesses and bring us to a place of security.