The Ultimate Safe Room
By Hal Lindsey
If there’s anything worse than seeing evil in the world, it’s seeing evil rewarded or glamorized. Some people see this happening and become angry with God. “How is it,” they ask Him, “that You keep letting the bad guys win?” Some of the richest, most powerful people in history were among the most evil, and it’s still happening today. Why do such people live in ease? Why does their wealth increase while others struggle?
Psalms 73:2-3 expresses the danger in such thinking. It says, “As for me, my feet came close to stumbling, my steps had almost slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant, as I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” In verses 16-17, the Psalmist says he tried to figure out why the wicked prosper, but he couldn’t find the answer until he took the matter to God. Then, he had an “ah-ha moment.” He said, “I perceived their end.”
Psalm 72 says the riches of wicked men do not last. They will be cast down to destruction, “swept away by sudden terrors.” Verse 20 in the New Living Translation says, “When you arise, O Lord, you will laugh at their silly ideas.”
The Psalmist then realizes the dangerous place his thoughts had taken him before he gave them to the Lord. And he stands amazed at God’s continuing grace. Verses 21-25 say, “Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside. I was so foolish and ignorant — I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you. Yet I still belong to You; You hold my right hand. You guide me with Your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. Whom have I in heaven but You?”
The Psalm ends at verse 28 with an astounding thought, expressed especially well in the New American Standard Version. “But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, That I may tell of all Thy works.”
The nearness of God is a treasure no amount of wealth or influence can buy. As evil men and women wax worse and worse during these troubled times, how marvelous to know that you have made God your refuge.
Today’s super rich are investing billions in schemes to attain some perverted form of eternal life. The scary state of the world scares them, too. So, they build safe rooms in their mansions. They spend enormous sums designing and building luxury bunkers in the wilderness. They hope to ride out the apocalypse in style. But the safe room may not withstand a devastating blast. And if they are not in the bunker when the nuclear bomb goes off, it does them no good.
God is not like that. He remains our refuge no matter what happens and no matter where we are. So, don’t envy evil men. Proverbs 24:19-20 says, “Do not fret because of evildoers, Or be envious of the wicked; For there will be no future for the evil man; The lamp of the wicked will be put out.”
Those who are in Christ have a glorious future. 1 Corinthians 2:9 says, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard… the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
The joy of the Lord is not reserved for heaven. Jesus said in John 15:11 and 16:24 that He wants our joy to be full. 1 Peter 1:8 speaks of “joy unspeakable.” It begins now.
You may be in the midst of a struggle — perhaps fighting pain or dealing with loss. But even in your most difficult hour, you are infinitely richer than the man who gains the whole world, but does not know Jesus.
