Safe Place?

Isa.55:^2-3 “Why spend your money on food that doesn’t give you strength? Why pay for groceries that do you no good? Listen and I’ll tell you where to get good food that fattens up the soul! Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, for the life of your soul is at stake…” (TLB)

When we are under pressure, we all have a ‘safe place’ to hide apart from God and that is usually a problem. When the pressure of parenting, or of marriage, or of finances come to us, we have places that we run to hide, and those places are unhealthy for our bodies. I once heard a Texan rancher share that if the stable [barn], where the horses are kept catches fire, when you go and rescue your horse, you have to hold the horse tight or tie it to a very strong pole.  The reason is, as soon as the horse gets free, it is running back to the stable even though it is now on fire and it will die in the fire. He said countless numbers of horses have died that way. The reason is that the horses know the stable to be a safe place, a place of comfort, and as a place where they can hide in time of trouble. Guess what? That barn now has trouble but that is where they go.

For some people, the barn they run to is sugar – they just need that boost. For some other people, it is marijuana. For some people, it is alcohol, and it is destroying your liver. A friend of mine passed on some years back. Interestingly, the day before he passed on, he was lively, at the club drinking. But that very night, in his sleep, his organs failed and that was it. We often do not realise what we are doing to ourselves because the consequences are gradual, but they surely happen. I had a lot of safe places; I am going to confess now but promise you are not going to judge me. One of my barns was a particular cereal with milk and sugar even though the cereal is sweet by itself already. And it happens between one o’clock and three o’ clock in the morning. I have been reading all night, then I stop to think about the things I am trusting God for and then I add some cereal to the mix. And it is… ‘uhm… ah…. uhm… God bless you, cereal’.

However, I discovered that overtime I was not as fit as I used to be, and I knew it was my bad habit. Another barn I had was video games; I just escape into the virtual world and I am killing terrorists. At least I am doing something good for the world, right? Most times, I feel God say to me, ‘but you know that is not how you should tackle this?’ Instead of running to God, I run to cereal or to my video game. And when I  felt God say that is not how to tackle things, you know what my response was? Sometimes, my response was that after all I am not watching porn. My cereal is better. After all, I am not committing adultery, so leave me with my video game. Every man to his own. It is important to mention that I am not proud of these responses. The truth is, as long as what you run to is not God, that thing has become an idol. What is your barn? For some people, it is comfort eating. You feel the need to comfort eat so that you would not do bad things, right? But as long as it is not God; it is idol worship.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, open my eyes to see the things I have given the throne of my heart to apart from God. Forgive me and help me worship God alone with my body, in Jesus Name. Amen!