If anything really bad ever happens, I’ll just go home to the U.S. where it’s safe.

This was the thought tucked securely in my mind while I served in the Philippines in the 1990s. We consistently suffered from epidemics of dengue fever and other tropical diseases, as well as political coups. I trusted the U.S. would always be a safe place to go in crisis.

Fast forward to 2001. I was sitting in a staff meeting at my church in Florida when a woman burst in the door and said, “Quick, turn on the TV.” It happened just as quickly as she had entered the room: The second plane flew into the World Trade Center. For the first time, life in America felt unsafe. My foundation of security, the United States, had just been rocked.

Today, each of us faces a new time of uncertainty. The coronavirus has created for us, for now, a new normal. How do we respond? Where do we place our security? Where must we put our hope to find peace?

Yesterday I read Psalm 91, one of the many psalms I turned to after 9/11 when I realized my security was in a nation rather than God.

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust’” (Psalm 91:1, NASB).

To face any uncertainty in our lives, we must dwell in the shelter of the Most High. We must be in communion with Him — spending time with Him, learning to live in His presence, and putting our trust in Him as the shelter from whatever may befall us.

When we do, we will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. People often say they don’t want to live in someone’s shadow because it means they’re overlooked. But the same shadow that puts you out of sight in a negative sense can also hide you in a positive sense, protecting you from being seen by the enemy.

So, we have double protection: a shelter and a shadow. A place to run in uncertainty, and a place to hide in danger. Perfect, eternal security.

That doesn’t mean we won’t get sick or suffer. But it means we have peace in the uncertainty. We face trying times from within the shelter, from a place of resting in the shade; we face them in the peace that comes from knowing the Most High, the Almighty.

As we face the uncertain world today, let us listen for God’s voice and for the voices of those who are hurting. Let us hold each other up. Let us learn to be humble, love mercy, and pursue justice. Let us love our neighbors as ourselves. Let us pray for each other. And most of all, let us dwell in the shelter of the Most High and abide in His shadow.

Mark Silvers served with Crossworld in the Philippines for 10 years and joined the home office staff as Director of Mobilization in 2009. Mark’s driving passion is to reach the 2.9 billion people in the world today with no access to the gospel.