Dr. Mary C. McDonald
It seems that the seeds of all that seeks to diminish our knowledge of God’s love for us were seen in Adam’s first encounter with God after he and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, when God called out to Adam, “Where are you?” (Gen. 3: 9-11) Adam answered, “I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid”. (Gen 3:9-11) Up until that time, clothes did not make the man, and that was just fine. Adam’s response unleashed insecurity upon the world. It is an insecurity in our belief in God’s word, His love, His faithfulness to His promises. “Who told you that you were naked?”(Gen 3: 9-11) God replied. When you see with the eyes of insecurity, inferiority, and comparison, like Adam and Eve did when they hid in the garden, you make wrong decisions, based on wrong assumptions. Who told you that? Was it God? Was it Satan? Who spoke those words?
And the insecurity continues. In the Bible, Saul was anointed by the Spirit of God to be King over all Israel. But Saul was ruled by insecurity. He wanted to be first in the hearts of the people. Who told Saul it was important to be loved by the people, even to the point of disobedience to God? Saul said, “I feared the people and obeyed their voice.” (1 Sam:15-24) Saul’s insecurity about his relationship with people caused him to listen to the wrong voice, and to make wrong decisions. Who told Saul that David’s success would undermine his own authority and position? Was it God, or was it his own insecurity that spoke to him? He gave in to popularity and pride to feel secure. Who told Saul that was the right thing to do?
The inheritance of insecurity still speaks to us today, in spite of God’s calling to dwell in Him, to be in the world, but not of the world. I heard it in the voice of a man I spoke to who was waiting in line to be served at a soup kitchen. When I asked if I could help him, he responded, “It’s too late for me, lady”, with a voice heavy with the despair of a life on the streets. “Who told you that?” I thought. “Who told you it was too late for you.” The Book of Wisdom tells us that God loves all things He made. Who told this man otherwise? Was it his neighborhood, his family, the life he lives now? All of us are called to holiness, a holiness that comes through your life, not in spite of it. Your real security is based on trust in what God says about you, not what others say. Hearing that man’s hopelessness, in that moment, I was called to give voice to his despair through the radical criticism of his status quo. “It is never too late for you,” I said. “With God all things are possible. Listen to His voice.” “ Who told you otherwise?”
Who told you that? Are there voices that bind you to insecurity? Who were those voices of deep hurt and injustice that sought to devalue your life, and condemn you to the numbness of the routine? Who are you walking with, and listening to, and where are you going? Who told you that you are tied to the power of the status quo, unable to imagine anything different? Surely it was not God. The God, who made you, saves you. It is His creation and salvation plans that destroy insecurity and give you hope in Him. When your security is rooted in God’s word, all things are made new. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old one has gone and the new one has come!” (2 Cor. 17). Who told you that? God did!
