Safety First

“The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” (Pr 18:10 AV)

 

How can you run into a name?  A name is an abstract noun.  It is not a solid structure.  A name is a series of letters put together that when spoken, the addressed responds to or is acknowledged.  A name is a title. A name is an identification.  How can something that is abstract be a thing to which the righteous flee?  A name can be more than identification.  In this case, the name of the LORD is not a mere identifier.  It is His reputation.  It is not a title by which we address Him.  It is His character.  Those who feel threatened or afraid can run to the reputation of God and place all their faith in what He is.  Not only in who He is.  Note also the individual application here.  The righteous are not a group of saints in general.  This is often how that word is used.  If it were, the verb would be plural.  “And are safe.” The tower, although available to all those who are righteous, is applied to any single individual who needs the reputation of the LORD to feel safe.

I know I have used this illustration before, but it is what comes to mind when I think of this truth.  I attended and worked many Boy Scout camps.  There were competitions between the troops all week long.  One of them was on Friday nights.  It was a glorified game of Capture the Flag.  Being a Boy Scout camp, there were plenty of structures we could use as a base.  There were two in particular.  We had constructed thirty-foot TeePee-type structures.  Actually, they were frames upon which TeePees could be built.  They were lashed together as expert Scouts would do.  Atop these structures were the flags.  The objective of the game was to capture the flag from your opponent's structure and hoist it on your own.  The structure was used as both a holding place for the enemy combatants and also for those rescued from the enemy to recover.  Those in recovery would have to stay there for a predetermined amount of time before they were released back into the field of play.  When I think of the name of God as a tower, this is what comes to mind.  A soul who has been rescued from the enemy yet needs a place of refuge to which to flee.

So many of us are like the inexperienced boys running around that field with no direction or strategy.  We are taken by the enemy.  We fall because we did not think things all the way through.  We do not go to the tower when we are overwhelmed by the threat that is all around us.  We do not flee to the tower when we know we will lose if we do not.  The reputation of God does not mean as much as our own efforts or courage.  The righteous flee to the tower because they know they are right with God.  The righteous flee to the tower because life experience has taught them the LORD can be trusted.  The righteous know when to flee.  They know to whom they should flee.  And they know if their heart rests on what God is as much as who God is, they will be safe.