Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. Daniel 6:26

When the castle of your life is taking hits and the plaster ceiling of your security is dropping around you, when the missiles are bouncing off the walls of your dwelling place, and your world is crumbling, your security disintegrates as well. It’s inevitable: When the world about you is collapsing, your inner world also begins to come apart. Your gut churns, you can’t sleep, you are jumpy and your blood pressure leaps off the chart. Your heart cries out, “God, how come? Have you failed me?”

Thought I’ve never been there personally, I’ve read accounts of Arctic explorers who were stranded on an ice flow in a hostile ocean with no radio, no flares, and little hope. They watched the chunk of ice melt underfoot and gradually disintegrate. As it sank deeper and deeper into the ocean which surrounded them, they could only hope that they might be rescued before the chunk of ice melted or capsized under them.

Life is sometimes like that. It is the insecurity of war, or nations in chaos, of relationships that you thought were rock-solid collapsing, of your health disintegrating, or your resources drifting away from you when you had thought you were fixed for life.

“Hey,” you may be saying, “you’re a pessimist.” No, I’m a realist, yet I’ve taken off the rosy glasses, recognizing the pain, the reality, and what’s happening today, but I don’t despair or give up. Here’s why.

When his world was collapsing as the great city of Nineveh was disintegrating, a lone prophet, a man God called to be a voice of hope in a world of despair, wrote, “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him” (Nahum 1:7, NKJV). For a few brief moments, grasp the truth of what He says. It can save your life.

First, Nahum makes a statement which is like driving a strong stake in the ground, one to which you can cling. He says, “God is good!” Do you believe that? If you disbelieve that, you are much like the stranded person on the ice flow in the Arctic when a rescue boat, spotting the desperate person, throws a rope and says, “Here, we’ll save you,” and you think, “Perhaps they are trying to trick me. Maybe they will jerk the rope back and leave me here.”

Failing to recognize we live in a broken world, some, including those who know better, blame God for not stopping the bullets that pelt your dwelling place, or the earthquake which has shaken your world. This world is not heaven; it’s a siege ground, and all the forces of hell wage war with decency, right?–and that which is just. Don’t blame God for the evil which some perpetrate, rather thank Him that because of His essential goodness, He is a stronghold. A what? A stronghold is a refuge, a place of safety and security.

Finally, Nahum draws a line. He puts some within reach of the stronghold and recognizes that some dally without, consumed with doubt, angry with blame. He says, “The LORD knows those who trust in Him.”

The bottom line is that a step of faith is involved. Faith has two elements: belief (which is intellectual) and trust, which is an appropriation of what you believe. David threw out the challenge. He said, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him” (Psalm 34:8).

The writer of Hebrews described that faith as “an anchor of the soul” which is sure and steadfast. The reality is that none are too secure to flee to His refuge. He’s still the rock, the fortress, and the deliver. Run to Him for all you are worth.

Resource reading: Psalm 18