Being A Safe Place

Being a Safe Place

Jehosheba

Read: 2 Kings 11:1-3

A young woman sat in the room staring at the sunlight on the floor. Her body still ached from the kicks her husband had given her after he knocked her down. She had a tooth missing from the last time he came home drunk. After two years of enduring his drunken rages, the woman had begun to fear for her life. She had hesitated when the social worker recommended the women’s shelter, worrying about his retaliation if she left him. But now, for the first time in a long while, she felt a ray of hope. Had she found a safe place at last?

When Athaliah tried to kill all her grandsons so she could rule as queen of Judah, one of them found a safe place, thanks to his aunt. Jehosheba hid her infant nephew Joash in a bedroom so he wouldn’t be murdered and then took him to the Temple where her husband served as high priest. How her heart must have ached that she couldn’t save the lives of all her nephews, but during the next several years she rejoiced that Joash was growing up secretly in the Temple. One day, he would reign over Judah in his rightful place, and David’s line would be restored.

Chances are that we won’t ever rescue someone from being murdered as Jehosheba did, but we can all be safe places for those that God puts in our lives. We can offer our family, friends, and neighbors the security that comes from knowing that they are loved and valued. They need to know that their secrets are safe with us and that they can trust us to speak the truth to them. Then they will think of us when they need a place to run to in times of trouble or sorrow. We can’t save the whole world, but we can experience the joy that comes from knowing that we are someone’s safe place.

You have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress.

Psalm 59:16