In Pursuit of Security

Date Published: 10/15/2009

I have detected an almost desperate craving for security in the responses to some of the recent discussion of current events: the arrest of would-be terrorists, the consideration of the way forward in Afghanistan and the debate on health care reform. The recurrent question is “Are we safe? Are we secure?” I expect those questions may arise from other issues as well.

One of the unsettling realities of the flurry of recent terrorist arrests is that very destructive acts can be carried out by a very small group or even a single individual. International diplomatic trends, troop and heavy equipment movements and even clandestine “chatter” that might be more easily detected are not necessary. I am highly impressed by what I have seen of the work of the FBI in these cases. But the reality remains that they may stop a dozen or a hundred or a thousand or more attempted terrorist attacks and still miss one, not by incompetence or by bad policy, strategy or tactics, but just because one was able to keep a low enough profile to get through.

Figuring out the way forward in Afghanistan traces back to the al Qaeda attack of September 11, 2001. From the standpoint of security for the United States, preventing Afghanistan from becoming a base of operations for future attacks is the objective. But in the nine years that have passed, concern for the viability of the nation and wellbeing of the people of Afghanistan greatly complicates the picture. That al Qaeda and similar groups are not national entities or states, they can move from place to place and be very decentralized, so that disabling them is something like the carnival game of smacking the gopher with a hammer when he pops his head through the hole. Get a hit one place, and it just pops up another. Controlling all of the remote places with weak governments where terrorist cells could operate is unfeasible. In the current debate, the question comes down to: does an anti-terrorist or an anti-insurgent strategy in Afghanistan make the United States more secure?

Those things may seem distant from the health care reform debate. However, when the press moves away from the political jockeying and posturing in and in reaction to Washington, the polls, interviews and grassroots responses to the debate seem to revolve around security. Will I lose my present health care? Will I be able to get health care? Will a bureaucracy (either government or insurance) make decisions for me that affect not only my health but perhaps even life and death? Will I be able to choose my medicine, treatment, doctor or hospital? If I get sick, will I be able to get the care I need and want? Even if I am not totally happy with the way things are now, the unknown of what might happen if things change makes me feel insecure.

Feeding these feelings of insecurity is the magnitude of corporate failures in the current economy. Prudential Insurance has used the image of the Rock of Gibraltar for their logo for years. We have extrapolated that kind of imagery to many institutions that we count on. When so many that we thought of as “rock solid” crumble, we feel understandably insecure.

I have no intention of adding to anxiety. I don’t want my observations to feed a frenzy of playing “ain’t it awful.” I’m not suggesting that the FBI, NATO or even Congress are not important or doing a good job, only that no human pursuit of security is foolproof. Nor am I suggesting that trusting God makes one immune from national or personal disaster. Rather, I am suggesting that we can live with confidence even in the face of great insecurity when we do not have unrealistic expectations about human endeavors but depend totally on God. To expect security from our human institutions is idolatry.

These Psalm excerpts point us in the right direction.

Psalm 33:16-17 NRSV
A king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a vain hope for victory, and by its great might it cannot save.

Psalm 146:3, 5, 7-9 NRSV
Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. … Happy are those whose … hope is in the Lord their God, … who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow.

Psalm 115:4-8 NRSV
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; they make no sound in their throats. Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them.