And this is what the picture illustrates: do not be afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked. What is that? Well there is another group on the road, and they have been wiped out. You suddenly are travelling and you see the corpses of a party that has proceeded you, and these people have been destroyed, either by bandits or by wild animals. Do not be afraid, you go on, do not be afraid of the disasters of the others because this wisdom that you have will sustain you and will be with you. The picture is of life. Here we are, we have turned to the Lord, we love him, and we walk with him, and then we see the disasters happening in the world around on every hand, wars and famines, and persecutions, and all kinds of things going on. And we see people suddenly stricken with a fatal illness and they die, and we see businesses collapse, and we see all kinds of things. We do not fear the desolations that come upon the wicked and upon the godless. Of course we are sympathetic to anybody who suffers, and of course we are concerned for the souls of others. But it does not make us afraid so that we say: ‘Oh supposing that happened to me, supposing something came upon me suddenly’, because we have a security. We know the Lord, our purpose is to please him. We understand that these things must be. It is about the absolute understanding and security of people whose minds have been furnished with the wisdom of God, and whose souls have been saved.