Have you ever been in such mortal danger that you saw your life flash before your eyes? I’ve experienced fear, but I guess I’ve never been near enough death to get to see the show.
Sometimes I worry a little that my blooper reel will be considerably more entertaining than the life show itself. If my life ever does flash before my eyes, I’m actually thinking at this point, it would probably be a sitcom.
Still, every once in a while, I have to make myself look at the plot. When I look plot-ward, do I see substance? Something worth living for? Something worth dying for?
David was known for being a man after God’s own heart. Not because he lived a perfect life. The sins he committed are still considered “the biggies.” No doubt his life-flash would not have been pretty. It wasn’t his sinlessness that won him the title of God’s heart guy. It was more about where he ultimately kept his priorities. “The one thing I ask of the LORD – the thing I seek most – is to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, delighting in the LORD’s perfections and meditating in his Temple. For he will conceal me there when troubles come; he will hide me in his sanctuary. He will place me out of reach on a high rock” (Ps. 27:4-5).
David’s number one all-consuming desire was to live in the Lord’s house every day – to delight in Him. To live in His house refers to dwelling with Him, living in His presence, day by day, moment by moment.
When delighting in His presence becomes the one thing we seek the very most – when it becomes what our life movie is all about – we find ourselves living in a kind of safety we can know in no other place. Where does He hide us? In His sanctuary. His safe place. Is there any place safer than this, our very Creator’s place of loving shelter?
Living in that safe place doesn’t mean we won’t experience difficulty. But it does mean that there is no difficulty or danger, near-death or otherwise, that can threaten our real security. Our souls are eternally safely nestled away in our Father’s protection. It’s the place of no worries. “Out of reach,” the passage says. Our Father will never allow anything to happen to us that’s not for our ultimate good. Nothing. Your worst enemy’s plot against you? That’s the kind of movie you can walk out on. Their schemes are nothing when compared to the God who holds you, loves you and protects you. “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?’” (Heb. 13:5-6). Even in painful places, never doubt His presence, His love and His eternal provision for you.
And that’s our story. Keeping our eyes on Him, if we make it to that life-flash screening, it just might turn into a movie we’ll enjoy watching. Maybe we’ll even find ourselves bringing popcorn, Diet Coke and an extra-large box of Junior Mints.
