Psalm 4:8(NLT)
8 In peace I will lie down and sleep,
for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.

Nice idea, but not for today you might think. There’s too much stuff going on to trust anything but my Glock. But, that’s the way the world thinks, not how God is. We can go to sleep in peace knowing that God will keep us safe. What I find so interesting is how he does protect us here, especially in the west where His code of ethics and morality infuse everything we do, and we don’t even know it. We’ve presumed it to be “human nature”. I don’t think it’s human nature if you look at all the other dominant cultures in our world.

Proverbs 3:7-8(NLT)
7 Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8 Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones.

We are being impressed more and more with our own wisdom and heading toward evil. I think most people would agree that things aren’t any better today than they were 50 years ago. Yes, we’ve made significant progress in most areas of life, medicine, etc., but are we safer? Do we feel more at peace? Are we safer in our lives?

1 John 2:2(NLT)
2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

We didn’t ask for it. We weren’t even around. Yet, he did. Most of the world didn’t even know the cost of sin in the eternal perspective, but knew the cost in their life (whether they’d admit it or not). God knows the cost of sin. God knows what evil is doing here on earth. God sent us our salvation.

Philippians 2:9-11(NLT)
9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The name above all other names, including our names, or Christopher Hitchens, or Stephen Hawking. Think about it. He’s that big a deal. If he’s not in your life, where’s your wisdom coming from? How does it line up?

John 15:16(NLT)
16 “You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.”

We didn’t choose him. He chose us. Christ chose us. We can blow him off if we care to, but we know why he came. We know why he is here. We know the peace he brings. We can ask him for what we want (remember that this presumes we’ll ask for things that are in his will – lasting fruit) and he will deliver. Maybe not in our time, but he certainly delivers in his.

That isn’t a nice idea, it’s an awesome reality.