Most of us are aware of the young man that entered the prayer service a couple of years ago and shot the Christians as they prayed in South Carolina in 2015. I bet most of us remember the guy who entered the church in Texas to shoot people and was killed by a member in 2019. There are other examples of violence happening at churches, but these are two of the most recent ones I suspect most of us remember.
In the wake of these shootings and other elements of crime, such as bandits stealing the tithes and offerings or purses and wallets for example. Who has not heard of the pastor and his wife being robbed of somewhere between $400,000 and 1 million during the worship service in New York a couple of weeks ago. Ignore the issue of a pastor and his wife not only having this much jewelry, but also wearing it on Sundays and what that says and instead focus on the boldness of the thieves to break in and take it.
Over the last number of years security has become a hot topic in churches. Churches have instituted armed guards. Churches have encouraged members bring firearms in the event they are needed and some are arming deacons. One of the popular methods of gaining increased security is to hire off duty police to secure the parking lot and external entrances on days people gather.
Security at houses of worship has become something many churches are focused on. There are classes and people involved in providing assessments and security upgrades. You can imagine the whole gamut of possible scenarios as there are always people chomping at the bit to fill any void for a premium. I have mixed feelings about this.
On the one hand, we have the story of Ezra in Ezra 8: 21-23. Ezra is leading a body of people to Jerusalem. They are loaded down with loose gold and silver and gold and silver vessels for the temple. We are talking hundreds and hundreds of talents of silver and gold. This wagon train was loaded and would make a very sweet score for any bandits and there is no doubt people knew it was traveling and carrying huge amounts of wealth. Does Ezra hire a guard force or seek security from the king?
No, Ezra appeals to the real King for security. Ezra stops at the edge of the river Ahava and proclaimed a fast. He declared multiple days of fasting to appeal to God for security, because he had made it clear to the Persians that his God would watch them and guard them and provide good for all who seek and do His will. Ezra felt seeking human guards to secure their safety from bandits would counter what he said about God protecting them. Ezra recruited the believers with him to fast and seek their security in God. I can imagine this wagon train was surrounded by an angelic security force none of them could see.
Ezra truly trusted God. Do you and I truth God like Ezra trusted God? I doubt we do. Most of us, as faithful Americans, have way less than hundreds of talents of silver and gold in our possession, yet we guard our meager possessions with hand guns, shot guns, rifles, knives, bats, dogs, and electronic security systems in some combination. We are armed to the teeth to keep our small amount of stuff in a world that is probably quite a bit safer than the world Ezra and this wagon train were moving through. I regularly think about this, do we trust God when we arm ourselves to the teeth to keep what we have?
Ezra and his band safely made it to Jerusalem. Like I said, they no doubt were surrounded by an invisable force.
On the other hand, we have the example of Nehemiah, which gives me fits compared to Ezra. Nehemiah is visiting the construction of Jerusalem and the temple and goes about to inspect the walls and sees how wide open they are. They have little to no defense provided by walls. They are in danger from the surrounding cities and States. Nehemiah even says something similar as Ezra, "The God of heaven will us prosper; and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem," in Nehemiah 2: 20.
Nehemiah acknowledged God's providence to keep them secure while surrounded by enemies, but at the same time takes upon himself to build the walls and secure their city in the face of an external threat. This story is often told in churches about having a sword in one hand while moving rocks and bricks in the other. I do not know how many times I have heard this story in the last twenty years, but it is at least a dozen and usually around the need to secure the facility from external threats.
Does this not seem confusing? We have the example of Ezra moving a wagon train loaded with gold and silver hundreds of miles, yet he trusts in God to keep them safe and to avoid bandits and highway men. Within only a handful of pages in your Bible, we have Nehemiah trusting to the sword and walls to keep the fledgling city secure. How are we to jive these different responses and the New Testament teachings on peace and love? Are we willing to turn the cheek and trust God? Martyrs exist in our history. Many, many people have trusted God with their security and safety and died in the process. Many others have taken up arms and put down threats to guard themselves and others.
So how do we reconcile this? Do we leave our security in God's hands in a dangerous world or do we take matters into our own hands and do everything we can to minimize risks and lower our risk posture and then if necessary, bust a cap in bandits to keep us safe? Honestly, I have mixed feelings about this and I suspect my mixed feelings are the war between my flesh and the Spirit.
I want to trust God like Ezra. I want to be willing to let all these possessions go if someone else wanted to take them. I want to trust God to keep my personal family and church family safe from harm and external threats. However, I also know the world is filled with people who mean to do harm for either their own selfish gain or just to hurt people for the thrill of hurting people. I also know when it comes to murderers and robbers, they do not all gravitate to the socialized gangs within the govt. Some of them form their own free market gangs of murderous villains. Both groups look for the weakest and softest victims they can find. Places like churches filled with Christians might be considered a soft and weak target.
So what do we do? Do we arm ourselves to the teeth and use locked doors and electronic surveillance and other physical means to make our target less soft? Do we take a threatening posture towards the world so criminals go somewhere else and hurt them instead of us? Do we raise arms to defend ourselves or do we let ourselves suffer risk, abuse, injury, and even death at the hands of murderous scum, while we maintain our Christian witness of peace? I want to say trust God. I want to say recruit other believers and fast and pray and trust God for your security. But I also know throughout the Bible they took protective measures to guard themselves.
So I waiver. I trust in God, I think. But I also take as many physical and electronic measures as possible and I pray I never have to make a choice to defend myself or my family from external threats, because I do not want to have to kill someone to keep them safe. Am I right? I just do not know. I provided examples of people in the Bible doing it both ways. I love what Ezra did, but Nehemiah sure seemed like the more practical method of security.
Saints, I urge you to think about this. Prepare your mind and make a decision now when you are not under duress. What will you do? Will you trust God and let it ride, or will you trust God and build your defenses. There are arguments for both. They are both equally attested. Just make sure you have taken this into consideration before the time comes when it is forced upon you. How well do you trust God and how much of that responsability does God put back on you for security? Do not wait to answer this question. Do it now.