Protect Me

“Keep me safe, LORD, from the hands of the wicked; protect me from the violent, who devise ways to trip my feet.” (Psalm 140:4 NIV)

According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, safety is one of the most basic human requirements. We all want to feel physically, emotionally, financially, and spiritually safe. When we feel threatened in any of these areas, it becomes difficult to focus our energy on higher levels of development. Thus, we attempt to meet these basic needs by any means necessary. Eventually we figure out how powerless we really are. Life is full of circumstances beyond our control. We can do our part, but the bulk of it is up to God.

Since ancient times, we humans have been praying to God to provide us with our basic, physiological needs of food, water, and shelter. We have also prayed for protection against danger, oppression, diseases, neediness, loneliness, anxiety, and fear. Once we recognize the prevalence and potency of evil, we can’t go on pretending that we can take care of everything on our own. We can see some of the obstacles in our way, but we also realize that there are just as many stumbling blocks that are invisible. We ask God to keep us safe, because we know we can’t. We pray against internal and external evil. We learn to trust God. We find security by hanging on to His promises:

"If you'll hold on to me for dear life," says God, "I'll get you out of any trouble. I'll give you the best of care if you'll only get to know and trust me.” (Psalm 91:14 MSG)