Living in the shelter of the Most High God
Psalm 91
1 You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
2 will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.’
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence;
4 he will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day,
6 or the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your dwelling-place,
10 no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder,
the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
14 Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name.
15 When they call to me, I will answer them;
I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honour them.
16 With long life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation.
Then psalm makes a grand claim: God’s followers will be protected from evil. A psalm such as this one leaves me wanting to say, “But what about…” What about people who have served God faithfully and have had hard, difficult lives? What about people who lived Christian lives and still got COVID (vs. 3 says those who live in God will be kept from pestilence)? And questions like that just tumble out.
When I start thinking like that, I begin to remember stories on the other side. Stories of God bringing about good in people’s lives. Stories of things working out. Stories of God leading people through dangerous situations to safety on the other side. Those stories are the kind of story that lead the psalm writer to say: “God is my refuge and my fortress” (vs. 2), under God’s wings we find refuge (vs. 4), angels guarding us (vs. 11), God held us up (vs. 12).
And so often it is people who have had really bad times that are the first to say, “Without God I would not have made it through. Even though that was bad, without God it would, have been so much worse.”
When I remind myself of those stories, when I hear how others see the hand of God at work, I start to look around myself in a different way. I pay more attention, for if these friends of mine can see God working, can see God’s faithful protection, maybe I can start seeing the same thing. Maybe I need to get a new set of glasses, some that see God’s protection more clearly.
It takes practice to see God at work, it takes practice to notice what God is doing. May we learn to see deeper, learn to see what is hidden, to see where God is at work.
PRAYER:
O Lord, we thank you for the evidence around us that you are at work, evidence of your guidance and protection. Open our eyes to see even more clearly your care and provision around us. So that we might give you all the praise and glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.