The Irony of Godly Safety

The Irony of Godly Safety


My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. John 17:15 NIV

Here is a bit of irony, my white friend (Rev. Bob Lewis) gave me (a black person) several books on Black History... I recall a story from one of those books that gave me some startling new information about the fight for civil rights and something some called "The Children's Crusade". In the year of 1963 Bull Conner of the Birmingham Police Department, turned high pressure water hoses (and dogs) on a group of high school students and demonstrators. The school students turned their backs and huddled into groups while bracing themselves against bearby buildings. But what these pictures and films do not reveal is that the older students were not only enduring the pain for protest, but they were protecting small children that were marching with them. It is a terrible thing to endure the battery of high pressured water hoses. But it is a far worse thing to allow children to endure the same torture.

I guess some evil needs to be endured for a greater and more profound purpose. And this is the rather ironic prayer of Jesus, that we are not taken out of a world filled with evil, but that we are protected from the Evil One. It seems to me that if a person is doing the work of God, that person should be protected (or exempt) from evil. But that is not, and never has been the case. We are told to expect more trouble than normal (1 Peter 4:12). But we are also told by scripture that we should not fear, for Christ lives in us, and he has overcome the world (1John 4:4 and John 16:33). There is no evil in this world that can consume a soul that has been entrusted to Christ.

When we face the troubles and terrors of this world, we do so as good soldiers of Christ (2 Timothy 2:3). We endure because there is a larger purpose at work that God is controlling. It seems a strange irony to be with Christ and yet endure so much hardship in this life. But we are taking the beatings and troubles for a greater and more profound purpose. We need not worry about the loss in this life, because the ultimate evil, which is the devil, has no hold on what belongs to Christ!