As I go back and read through my prayer journal I see a recurring theme: the prayer for safety. “God, please keep my family safe, please keep my marriage safe, please keep my children safe.” Two weeks ago when I was traveling across country I was praying for “travel safety.” When ever I listen to others pray I often hear them calling on the Lord for “safety.” But as I’m spending time in prayer and study this morning I’m convicted that we need to stop praying for safety.
Did Abraham pray for safety as he left his homeland to follow the Lord? Did Moses pray for safety when he confronted the king of Egypt? Did David pray for safety before he faced the Philistine Gladiator? Did Daniel pray for safety when prayer was outlawed in Babylon? Did Jesus pray for safety, ever? Did the early church leaders make the issue of safety part of their prayers? The answer is no. They didn’t pray for safety. They prayed for boldness, power and purpose; but rarely if ever prayed for protection and safety.
Why do we pray for safety? Are we still too materialistic and naturalistic? Are we afraid of death or disaster? Are we afraid of failure?
I think that great men and women of God would rather go down in glorious failure than to live boring, uneventful lives that make no tangible difference in the world! They are far less concerned about their own comfort and far more concerned about God’s Kingdom. They pray for the opposite of safety. They pray for danger! They want to walk in the footsteps of Christ. They want to be counted among the great cloud of witnesses ushering in the Kingdom of God. But they do not want to be safe.
I’m tired of safety. I’m bored with the 9 to 5, Monday to Friday grind. I’m tired of low-vision and safe-living. I’m ready to go to whomever and wherever the Lord leads me. May God send me to Chicago, or to New York, or to Haiti, or to London, or to Nairobi, or to Moscow, or to Brisbane; but may he not condemn me to living a safe life!
