Psalm 91:2 “I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.”

Our trust is where we turn for help. The words “refuge” and “fortress” call to mind the strongholds people in the Middle East would build on hills and mountains for protection. In fact, the word “fortress” in the Hebrew is the word “masada.” Maybe you have heard of Masada, a narrow plateau near the Dead Sea, a quarter of a mile up from the desert floor, with sheer cliff faces on all sides. King Herod built a palace and fortifications there, and it appeared to be impregnable.

But we need to beware of false trusts in our lives. Nothing on earth is completely safe. The literal Masada fell to the Roman army when they built a ramp a quarter of a mile high to move their army and siege machinery within reach of the walls. Today we see modern day, high tech security systems failing to protect the treasures they guard. Scenes of such failures from movies like Ocean’s 11, or Mission Impossible, or National Treasure may be fiction, but news reports of thefts at museums, galleries, and banks are not. Money, family, government, career, personal heroes, my own wits– eventually all these things will fail.

But our God never will. He is our trust. With him we are always safe. Sometimes we are inclined to question that. We feel like we have been more than a little burned, a little bruised, a little manhandled by life. Why hasn’t he kept me safe? I trusted him!

There is a scene toward the end of the movie The Pagemaster in which the young hero is going on and on about all the deadly dangers he has endured in a long list of adventures he has been forced to experience. The Pagemaster, a sort of magical librarian who wanted to help the boy get over his fears, replies, “And yet you stand before me today.”

For all of our hardships, that is true of us, too, isn’t it? And yet we stand before him today–not a magical librarian, but the supernatural Author of our life stories. Has the Lord failed? I don’t think so. Even for those who trusted God and are not with us anymore, their trust has not been misplaced. They stand before him in heaven, where they are fully and finally safe.

Safe with God– that’s what it means to be saved, doesn’t it? That’s why we call him our Savior. In our faith, in our life, in our future, trust him to keep you safe.