When You Want to Hide

The world is scary. The news is scary. The problems and troubles and worries we are currently facing as a country are scary. I know. I feel it too. I think it's safe to say that right now, as we watch CNN and scan Fox News, we all feel it like an anchor on our chest. 

And when things get scary, when things seem out of our control, what does our human nature tell us to do? Where does our human nature tell us to go? Like a child scared of the dark, everything in us yearns to run away, to hide, and to shield ourselves from the potential of pain and hurt and loss. We want to curl up in a ball, throw the covers over our head, and just remain there, silent, still and numb. We want to tiptoe into our parents' room, climb over them until we are tightly secured in the middle of their bed and get lost under the wing of their safe arms. 

We want to hide in our homes. We want to find security and comfort and peace. We want to hunker down in our basements until the hate and hurt and harm has been wiped away, until the storm has passed and the sun has proven that it is safe to come back outside. 

And it's true: we probably are safe there in our strong towers. No one can get to us there. No evil can find us there. Bad things can't happen to us when we hide. Nothing can happen to us when we hide. Nothing, and that's the problem. 

The world might not can reach us, but we can't reach the world either. We can't love from inside our four walls. We can't be light from under the covers. We can't be help from our parents' bed.  We can't fight from the comfort of our couches. 

And the world needs us to fight for it. Our children need us to fight for them. God needs us to fight for Him. He has not called us to be battered, He has called us to be brave. He has not called us to be wounded, He has called us to be warriors. He has not called us to shy away, He has called us to step up. He has beckoned us from up high on trumpets to march fiercely into battle. He has called us to pick up our swords all across this land, and to go out there swinging at all cost. 

We are His people. His army. His crusaders. We do not flee, we do not hide, we do not surrender. There is no white flag for God's people, because we know who we are fighting for. We know we are fighting to save lives and hearts. We are fighting to save love. 

Now is the time, Christians to break out the Word and break out of the fragile shells we have built for ourselves. Now is the time to look hate square in the face and shout "BRING IT ON. YOU HAVE NO PLACE HERE. YOU WILL NOT WIN!" 

Love does. Love always does. 

We know this truth. We rest in this truth. We find strength in this truth.