The Floor is Lava, But With God, We're Safe
One of our son’s favorite shows is one called, “The Floor is Lava.” I’m sure you can guess the idea of the show even if you’re unfamiliar with it. But to give a quick summary, there are usually three teams who have to successfully get across a crazy, obstacle-filled room without falling into the lava. My son loves it. He cheers for all the teams, guesses who will get across or who will fall in, and screams, “OH NO!” whenever a team member misses a jump and disappears into the lava-like substance.
Not only does he love watching the show, but he loves reenacting everywhere he goes. The carpet is lava! The playroom is lava! The kitchen floor is lava! He will launch himself across our couch, try to jump onto another cushion, and then purposefully fall off into the lava with a dramatic hand in the air as he ‘sinks.’
My daughter loves to join in this game and is quick to point out anyone who might be in the lava and unaware. She will start yelling urgent encouragements for everyone to be safe. “You have to get out of the lava!”
I love this part of our current season of life. The imagination, the conviction, and the playfulness are beautiful to behold.
The other day, the lava was flowing all over our house and it seemed nowhere was safe. Apparently, everywhere I thought was safe was, in fact, the worst part of the lava flow. I finally understood that my kids had designated only ONE safe place, so I jumped on the couch with them, much to their relief. We hung out in safety for a minute or two until my son decided safety was boring and made his dramatic jump into the lava while we cried out after him.
This sweet little game connected my mind to something God has been faithfully teaching me this year.
For a long time, my heart chose insufficient refuges to run to. There was a big season of life when there was a lot of ‘lava’ around me: despair, discontentment, and doubt. Life around me was too much to handle, and I could feel these things threatening to consume me. So, I sought a safe place.
My two main places of refuge were social media and reading. They were both ways for me to escape from my current reality.
On social media, I could see into the carefully cultivated lives of others. I would scroll through hours (yes, to my shame, hours) of relatable videos that left me feeling aimless and hopeless. It seemed innocent enough when I started, but it quickly took up so much of my time and distracted me from the work at hand.
With reading, I landed in two camps. Either I went for the fluffy rom-com where the love between the main characters was perfect and always led to a happy ending, or I chose epic fantasies where the female main character was powerful and on a mission to save the world. Hardly any of the books I read were edifying. Almost all of them sowed deep seeds of discontentment and had sections of content that (again, to my shame) came nowhere near honoring God.
If you can believe it, neither of these places of refuge were truly safe. They did nothing to protect me or encourage me through my hard season of life. They only added to the burdens I was trying to find shelter from.
Praise God, that time is in the past. He graciously opened my eyes to what I was doing. He contrasted the things I was choosing with the life he had promised and showed me the widening gap between them. He convicted me of my sinful choices and called me back to him. And just like in my kid’s game, he reminded me that there is only ONE safe place of refuge.
“You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with shouts of deliverance.” Psalm 32:7“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation,
my stronghold and my refuge,
my savior; you save me from violence.” 2 Samuel 22:2-3“God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling.” Psalm 46:1-3
I was choosing places to run to that could not save me. I was escaping my current troubles and hiding away in things that only caused future troubles. I was letting these sins rule my heart and running to them time and again. I have thanked God every day since that season for his rescue.
For me, the rescue looked like going cold turkey. I stopped scrolling on social media. Yes, you’ll see me pop on there on the Sights Set Above pages, but you’ll probably notice I’m not following any trends, because I’m blissfully unaware of what they currently are. I still read, but my choices are different these days. No more rom-coms, no more Booktok popular fantasies. The fruit these produced in my heart was rotten.
When I have free time now and at the end of my days, I choose to consume content that I know glorifies God and directs my heart to him. I actively spend that time with my husband instead of getting lost in whatever book I’m reading or distractedly scrolling social media. The fruit these produce is sweeter than I could have ever hoped for.
Where are you running to when things are hard? What content are you consuming? How is it affecting your heart? As a sweet friend reminded me recently, our time here is short. We have been given a safe place of refuge we can access at any time when life on this earth is heavy. A refuge that will not falter when life is hard and we are weary. A refuge that doesn’t burden us more but restores our soul.
Run to God as your refuge. Lava is all around us. Make sure you’re in the ONLY safe place.
