Safe Am I

"Safe am I, safe am I, in the hollow of His hand.
Shelter door, shelter door, in His love forevermore.
No ill can harm me, no foe alarm me,
For He keeps both day and night.
Safe am I, safe am I, in the hollow of His hand."

The second line of that chorus, as you may remember, is not quite right, but that's how I heard it. The actual words? "Sheltered o'er, sheltered o'er." For a long time, in Sunday School and vacation Bible school and youth rallies, I thought we were singing about Jesus, the door to peace and safety, i.e., shelter!

But I wasn't really all that wrong, was I? Jesus declared, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. . . Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. . . I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture." (John 10:1-2, 7, 9 NKJV) He is indeed my shelter door!

"Someone said to Him, 'Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?' And He said to them, 'Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, "Lord, open up to us!" then He will answer and say to you, "I do not know where you are from." ' " (Luke 13:23-25 NASB)

Having entered through the door, what privileges are ours! "Yes, because God's your refuge, the High God your very own home, evil can't get close to you, harm can't get through the door." (Psalm 91:9, 10 MSG) "And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise." (Romans 5:2 MSG)

"But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do." (Psalm 73:28 NLT) My shelter door!

MaryMartha

Scripture marked NKJV is taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved; marked NASB is from the New American Standard Bible, used by permission of The Lockman Foundation, www.lockman.org ; marked MSG is taken from The Message. Copyright © 2003 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group; taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved.