Is My Child Safe?

One of the great internal battles I have as a parent is the legitimacy of assuring my daughter she is safe.

I'm quite convinced she's safe from the lamp's shadow on the wall that she fears.

I have no doubt that she's safe from the monsters that live under her bed.

But when I remind her to turn her fears to God and trust in Him, there's that niggling doubt in the back of my mind....  "But God may not keep her safe tonight.  Thieves may rob us in the night. Terrors that she cannot imagine may come unannounced. Can I really in full honesty assure her of safety?" 

Then I came across this verse in Psalm 68: "God is to us a God of deliverances; and to God The Lord belong escapes from death." The commentaries I read reminded the reader that God is sovereign over the time and circumstances of our death.  As believers, we are sovereignly safe -- even dangers are carefully sifted through His sovereign hand.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego voiced this truth in Daniel 3:17-18 when they told the king that God may or may not rescue them.  Esther voiced similar confidence in God's sovereignty when she uttered her famous statement  "...and if I perish, I perish."

In each of these situations, people of the Bible were confidently proclaiming their trust in God's sovereignty -- that safety that comes with knowing Him.

With this simple review of Scriptural truth, I felt the sweet peace of God's sovereignty come to roost in my heart.  There may be dangers along my daughter's life journey that would whelm my heart were I to know them in advance.  However, I can safely trust her to The Father's sovereign care, knowing that nothing comes her way that He hasn't granted.  And I can encourage her to rest in His sovereignty -- to rest in the same sweet peace that allowed David to sleep in the very face of danger:  "I will lie down  and sleep in peace, for You alone, OLord will make me to dwell in safety." (Psalm 4:8)