Is God Safe?

“‘Safe?’ said Mr Beaver…’Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.’” And so writes C.S. Lewis in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, speaking of Aslan, the lion.

God Is Mighty

Sunday our interim pastor Tony Chester spoke about the 10 plagues cast on Egypt. God wanted His people set free, and He used His might against the pagan gods of the land. Pastor Tony quoted Mr. Beaver while speaking about God as The LORD, Mighty in Battle. While God was good to His people the Israelites, God was anything but safe for the Egyptians who disregarded Jehovah.

The LORD is good, very good. But when we mistake His goodness and His grace for passivity towards those who choose to ignore His Sovereignty, we may see His might and power in action. He is good, but He is not safe for those who refuse His goodness.

God Is Holy

Tuesday I was doing research for an article on, of all things, Leviticus 27. (Try that chapter for some light reading!) After trying to analyze the chapter on my own, I turned to several commentaries for help.

The passage gradually began to make sense. I understood that while God is mighty and He is good, He is also holy. He has standards and expects His people to keep their word to Him just as He keeps His word to us. No one can afford to be flippant before a holy God.

Reaching for one more commentary to see what it had to say about this hard to grasp chapter of the Bible, I read, “C. S. Lewis observed in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe that the lion ‘Aslan [God] is not safe, but He is good.’” (The Moody Bible Commentary p. 213)

Reading the statement multiple times, I tried to grasp why the same Lewis quote was used for two such different Scripture passages. On Sunday the quote from Lewis’ book was because the pastor spoke about a mighty God who used His power against Egypt’s pagan gods and those who worshipped them. But on Tuesday the quote was in regards to a God whose holiness demanded His people worship Him through obedience to Him alone.

Years ago, 1 Peter 1:15-16 grabbed my attention.

“But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”

Scripture records that statement many times in Leviticus, and Peter is repeating it in the New Testament. “Be holy, for I am holy.”

Is God Safe?

The Creator of the universe, the holy One, calls us to be holy, set apart to Him, different, uniquely His. Sometimes I fear I forget this part of who God is. He is good. But He is not safe as we think safe. He is safe for those who love truth, and hunger and thirst after righteousness. He is even our refuge and hiding place. But for those who think Jehovah is unnecessary, He is not safe. For those who think He doesn’t mean what he says, He is not safe.

The holiness of God is just as much a part of Him as His goodness and might. It’s important that we see Him as He really is. Not just the parts of Him we want to see.

Two days, the same quote. I’d better pay attention. God is good. He’s mighty, and He is holy. But God is safe only for those who treat Him with reference.

May we know Him as He is and worship Him as He deserves.

If you want to know more about God, check out Knowing God and read the Bible. God wants us to know Him as He is.

(Photos: Taken by Carolyn Thigpen, Stone Mountain Park, GA, July 2021, and Jerusalem, Israel, June 2016. Scripture: Taken from the English Standard Version)