Are You Going Anywhere?

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Two precious, four year-old girls were sitting up in their beds, still talking long past bedtime. Grammie went in to settle them down for the night. In the dim light from the hallway, the eyes of one still twinkled, but with uncertainty. Her only words were, “Are you going anywhere, Grammie?”

Change had shaken their security. Daddy had recently gone away to war in Iraq. Mommy was gone, having the chance to see him once more before his going overseas. They were as safe as could be with Grammie. But, safety does not equal security, especially in the dark when Daddy is gone and you are only four.

Grammie reassured the girls that she was not going anywhere; promising to be right in the next room. Freshly tucked in, they went right to sleep. All they needed to settle their restless insecurity was the promise that they would not be left alone.

Somewhere along the way, childhood fears subside; or, we don’t express them so plainly. Somehow we become secure in our own care and safety. Then, as God’s children who are not dependent upon Him as we should be, God is asking His children, “Are you going anywhere?”

Though God “has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us” 1 Peter 1:3, we are prone to choose our own lives and define godliness on our terms.

Though God “has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust” 1 Peter 1:4, we are prone to leave at least one foot in the world’s corruption.

Though God has made “the prophetic word more sure…[like] a lamp shining in a dark place” 1 Peter 1:19, by our self-secure ways, we are prone to close our eyes to the Lamp’s light.

Having the assurance of safety, security and light through the knowledge of God and the sacrifice of His Son, somehow we are still prone to return to darkness and insecurity. It is as if we do not care if our Heavenly Father has gone anywhere. And, in the darkness, we forget that He did not leave us, but it is us who left Him. We forget to consider, “Are we going anywhere, and where are we going?” Then the trouble begins.

Through forgetfulness, we are prone to follow “destructive heresies…denying the Master…maligning the way of truth…and [commit ourselves] to the pits of destruction, reserved for judgment” 2 Peter 2:1-4.

Through forgetfulness, we are prone to be “like unreasoning animals…reviling where [we] have no knowledge…forsaking the right way...[and loving] the wages of unrighteousness” 2 Peter 2:12-15.

Through forgetfulness, we are prone to again be entangled in “the defilements of the world…and [when] overcome, the last state will be worse for [us] than the first, for it would have been better for [us] not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the righteous commandment given [us]” 2 Peter 2:20-21.

However, amid Peter’s descriptions of those who have returned to their previous state of wallowing like hogs in the mire of sin, there is also this assurance of escaping the darkness. Even while one is enslaved to corruption, there is a means of freedom to any who want to escape; 2 Peter 2:18-19. Amid this world’s temptations there is escape, just as there was for Lot. “God rescued righteous Lot…for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among [the wicked] felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation” 2 Peter 2:7-9.

Because Lot considered the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked, he could rightly answer the question of which way to go. In the darkness of sin around him, Lot was assured that God had not gone anywhere. Lot was reassured that God was with him; that there was both safety and security in the way of the Lord. Lot knew how to answer the question, “Are you going anywhere?” By Lot’s actions we know his answer; “God, I’m going with you.”

At four years of age, or at any age, our security can be shaken by change. For those who depend upon the Lord, though we may in dark times wonder, we really do not have to ask, “Are you going anywhere, Lord?” With God’s comfort, seemingly as near as the reassuring words of a Grammie, we can know that God is not going anywhere.