“Safe” is a relative term. Being safe from a storm could still mean being wet and frazzled, but alive.

“Safe” is a good word. It carries comfort and warmth.

Proverbs 29:25 serves as the context of the statement, “whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” The first part of verse 25 warns that the “fear of man will prove to be a snare.” This is a stark contrast: man versus the Lord God. We can see men; we cannot see God. If we kept a disappointment score of the times when we expected someone to do something and they did not come through for us versus when we felt God did not come through, the score may be a tie.

So, what is trusting God? What will tip us toward a life of faith?

We have been told and we read from scripture that God can do anything. We may or may not have experienced His majestic power personally, but we do know men. Look around. Who is looking after your interests more than you are?

Man is man. For the most part, what you see is what you get. God is different; He brings a lot more to the table. Psalms 9:9-10, declares, “The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.”

Wait a minute! What about Christian martyrs? What about people dying every day because of their professed faith in almighty God? Back up; remember, safe is a relative term. Do you recall the stories of the early Christian martyrs who sang songs while being burned at the stake? There must be more to the principle of being safe in God.

God is not limited by time or space. Death is no big deal to God. He can raise the dead. He can heal the broken. When we think something is really bad, it may not be as bad as what it appears to be.

There is one more thing about God that we may not experience until the moment of our greatest trial or problem. That one more thing is the grace of God.

The Apostle Paul was a follower of Christ. He experienced men and God on levels most of us never will. Paul spoke of a particular trial in the New Testament book of 2 Corinthians: 12. Paul said he had a “thorn in (his) flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7). We don’t know what that thorn was, but we know it was significant enough that Paul was greatly troubled by it. Paul asked God to take it away. Three times Paul pleaded with God, and God said, “No.”

But God said something else, and this is where God truly becomes safe and a stronghold in times of distress. God said, “My grace is sufficient for you.” That does not seem like a real answer, does it – grace versus our having what we think we need? Paul was stuck with God’s answer.

But later, Paul declared triumphantly regarding God’s grace: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest upon me … I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

The choice is clear: trust God whom we cannot see, or trust man whom we can see and figure out. That does not even seem like much of a choice when we consider the truck load of grace that accompanies trusting God. Man cannot give any grace.

God can keep us safe through anything, even death.

The Rev. Dan Puckett is a minister with Life Action Ministries.