This verse mimics verse one in many respects, but takes things one step further: the promise of protection from harm. It implies intervention. But it takes us further into the field of trust in which we must stand if we are to appropriate this promise for ourselves. Just how trusting can we be in this time of lockdown?

We live in a world of trials of every kind. If not disease, then some other threat such as earthquakes and eruptions, recessions and climate change are all beyond human intervention for the most part. We really have nowhere else to go other than to trust this God who promises to provide protection and refuge, but how far can we take this trust of ours? Will the promise fail if our trust is less than a hundred percent?

To the nominal believer, it is easy to fade when the chips are down. If we don’t know God beyond what we have heard or read about, then can we expect this theoretical God to materialise when we want him? Surely something beyond our intellectual knowledge is required to make connection with a God who goes beyond the natural. Are we ready to enter the spiritual and the supernatural?

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit personalises the Christ within us in a way that cannot be explained or replicated in any other way. It is only then that we discover that we truly have been “found”. Every other thing about us pales in significance. The Lord has declared a personal interest in us, and from here on our relationship with Him will be effortlessly personal too.

Whatever our past, there is no time like the present to reach for His confirmation. Once received, we can easily believe that, yes, of course He will want to protect us from harm.

Barry Struthers

This is the verse in Psalm 91 we would rather not acknowledge, and indeed it is often skipped when the Psalm is read aloud. We like to sanitise the Bible wherever we can to avoid giving offense or stirring controversy. The word “punishment” glares at us, for we would rather retain our image of an all-loving God who no longer seeks retribution now that Jesus has turned the tables on sin. The Psalm was of course written many hundreds of years before Christ’s intervention, during Old Testament times. Punishment and retribution was then expected to follow any breaking of the Law delivered by Moses. This verse would not have seemed out of place back then.

Now-days, in the midst of the continuous existence of sin and sickness, the only thing that has changed is God’s grace; His undeserved favour to those who accept Christ as their Saviour. We no longer have to earn His blessing. This means that every sin may now be forgiven without punishment, for the penalty has already been served on Christ His son. A rough deal for him, but a “let out of jail” card for us. How then should we approach today’s verse with New Testament eyes?
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We begin by recognising that “wickedness” exists. That being so, justice demands that it be addressed. A Holy God cannot be expected to look the other way; by whatever means, wrong has to be righted before it can be acceptable to Him. For those who choose not to bring their wickedness (= sin generally) to God for forgiveness, can only expect that there will be a record of it held over for the final judgement in the time to come. (2 Cor. 5:10,11) A fear of the Lord is the handbrake that comes to the aid of the Christian in times of temptation and trial. The non-believer has no such restraint, for there is no awareness of the affront to God that his/her sins have caused. Without the fear of the Lord, sin goes unchallenged and unchecked. “Wickedness” reigns.
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We can do better than to skip over this verse.

Barry Struthers

How challenging this verse is right now. Daily we hear reports of the death toll in different countries around the world, and they now measure in the thousands. Grim stories of overwhelmed hospitals and morgues, even cemeteries, are now all part of our new norm. So, how long will we escape the odds against us? How many thousands will “die at our right hand” while we are spared?

Why should the believer hold out for this promise of protection in Psalm 91? Why should we expect safe passage on this journey of evasion form a microscopic menace that we cannot see coming our way? Don’t the laws of random distribution apply to us too? How long can we expect go dodging the bullets?

These are the questions that test our faith. What is stated is clear enough, and we also have the testimonials of soldiers that have indeed seen miraculous protection in battlefields of the past to back us up. We now have to take our place in the front-line whether we feel ready or not. So what do we have to lose by standing on God’s promise? More importantly, what else may we hope to gain?
The privilege of having God’s ear goes beyond our safe passage in times of trial. At the head of every promise is the Lord himself, three in one, all on our side. This is the real destination of faith: to know God more. Every day we are given opportunity to inject faith into our every need and concern. But if our gaze does not reach beyond what we want, to the one who will provide, then we leave ourselves short-changed.

For most people of this generation, there have been few trials on the scale of the current pandemic to live through. We are largely untested, and this lock-down will no doubt shake us out. Will we cower in our hiding places until it’s over or will we go for the whole nine yards by using our abundance of free time to get to know God better?

Barry Struthers

It may take some adjusting to the idea that we are being “stalked” both day and night by a disease. How can it be so personalised and so determined? What drives the creation of such harmful entities as Covid 19? Is this all part of Satan’s plan? To debilitate not only our bodies but our whole lifestyle too? And if so, what phase of his plan are we up to? Is this the build up to the final show down with God? Certainly the whole world’s attention is fixed right now to this one evil agent. He couldn’t want for a bigger stage.

If it is to be the Lord who is to have the last word in this situation, then surely this promise of his peace will be the one thing to cling to. “You will not fear”. His protection is in place. There is no better time than now to get to know Him better, and to find that peace. He is resting from his work because it is finished. The outcome of this battle is pre-ordained.

There will be many times in the next few weeks that we will have to leave the safe shelter of isolation in order to go shopping for supplies. The restrictions on who may remain open to serve us will in effect concentrate most of the danger in a handful of locations. The risks of transmission there are real. But there is no call for us to put the Lord to the test by lessening our precautions. We can quite easily become transmitters ourselves. Like handling fire, a fearful respect of the danger is still required, even though we carry the Lord’s assurance and peace.

Barry Struthers

We imagine that whatever we are fearful of, its power increase tenfold at night. On the night of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit us around midnight two years ago, there was an unusually big full-moon. It gave great comfort by its light as we assembled outside, frozen in shock. At least we were able to see that our house was still standing, but not well enough to assess the damage. When the power returned, a small solitary light came on in the linen cupboard upstairs, and somehow it gave us reassurance that, eventually, all would be well.

It is in the dark places that we are more inclined to reach out for help. Sharing a fox-hole while on sentry duty at night is only made bearable by the presence of another person assigned to share the same space. Equally though, the jitters of one transfers easily to the other. I have experienced this myself on an army exercise when I was just 19, and even though our “enemy” were equipped only with blank ammunition, it was scary enough to know that they were coming our way. In the dark.

This verse of scripture gives us just one directive: fear not. These are words repeated many times in both the old and new testaments, from the mouths of angels and even Jesus himself. (Luke 12:32) Many saints have gone before us who have found the courage to hold their ground in dark situations. Even as insults and false accusations have flown like arrows in broad daylight, there has been great comfort drawn from the reassurance of this scripture. We need not run and hide if we know that Jesus has us covered already. The confidence that we once had in ourselves is quickly set aside when we find the one sharing our “fox-hole” is our greatest ally and loyal friend. In him alone can we be confident.

Barry Struthers

We often are given to thinking that it is our faithfulness that will unlock the treasures of heaven, and save us in our time of trial. Yet here it is stated that it is his faithfulness that will provide the protection we seek. How important this is at this time. As our communities wait for the Corona virus to make their appearance, we feel the need for protection more than ever. The entire world is waiting for this menace to pass, but to date the only means of curtailing its spread is to isolate from one another.

Isolation is the antithesis of the gospel message. We are entreated to see ourselves as invisibly linked and unable to function without the involvement of our neighbour. Now more than ever we are seeing how interdependent we all are. As one by one our occupations are shut down as a means of limiting the spread of this deadly virus, we find there is less and less opportunity to engage fully with the world as before. Where then is the value of our faith?

Once again, it is not our faith, but the faithfulness of the Lord that will carry the day. Days of plague have covered the world many times, and have reached the most far flung communities on Earth. Who else is there to look to when there is very little offered by the modern god of technology and science. Will we simply wait like sitting ducks, hoping that somehow we will be numbered among the lucky ones who will survive? Or will we call on the faithfulness of God with expectation?

Our God cares. We know that by the way he has dealt with Sin. How much more then, can we have faith that he knows how to deal with our diseases also? The wounds on the back of Christ tell us how far he was willing to go to provide us with cure.

Barry Struthers

A brooding chook has a mind of its own. Settling into its nest, it somehow knows that these precious eggs are of sufficient value to stand guard over around the clock. There are predators that may kill and air that may chill to look out for, but the spread of her feathers will do an amazing job to resist them both. Her chicks have a lot to be grateful for. Even when the time comes to leave the nest and make it on their own, there will still be a pair of parental eyes trained upon them.

Today is day-one in the enforced lock-down to halt the spread of Covid 19. When will we be safe to venture beyond our nests again? We don’t yet know. But there is one who would gather us in at this time to protect us from harm, for He has birthed us. We are His. From the moment we believed and became born-again we swept past the barrier that had been between us before. We are no longer alone. We have one who has become our most important stakeholder, for he has paid for us dearly.

It would be absurd to think that such a God would be uncaring about His hard won offspring. Even the most vile offender has within them the capacity for change once they have made connection with the one who loves them unconditionally. Until then, life is a puzzle with no real meaning. Mere existence is a poor substitute for “life in all its fullness” (Jn 10:10). It is only as we feel safe, and can sense the guardianship of God, that we can begin to explore this life that was once beyond us. Like the chick who begins to range away from the nest, we too know that should trouble arise we will be gathered up under safe wings.

Barry Struthers

Do we believe that even the most deadly disease is not beyond our Lord to resist? There is evidence, even in the church, that many have their doubts. We now know so much more than ever before about microorganisms, which remain public enemy number one in times of pandemics; our filters of natural protection are just not fine enough to block the entry of a virus such as Covid 19. We can take gross measures such as hand washing and sanitiser sprays, but we know that always there will be gaps. Without an effective vaccine, isolation is the only practical step we can take to avoid transmission. Why then do we not attach more weight to the promise of this Psalm?

The word “surely” (above) suggests that the Holy Spirit has every confidence that our rescuer will not let us down. The only pre-condition mentioned in the Psalm is that we continue to dwell in his shelter.(vs1) Tonight our country goes into lockdown for the first time in recent history, and we are about to learn what it takes to dwell continuously in one place. There will be no let up for at least four weeks, and no doubt we are about to learn new things about our shortcomings. Likewise when we try to remain locked-in our faith in God we find limitations too. Why is it so hard to feel totally confident in the power of prayer in times like these? How can we more effectively touch base with him?

The Bible tells us that at any time we can seek to enter his dwelling through the gates of thanksgiving and praise. It is the one thing we can do that will set in train even miracles if we need them. He is the very last one we should isolate ourselves from at this time of lock-down. We have a very real need of his rescue from this “deadly pestilence” right now. Before we begin our many new daily routines in our lock-down bubbles, maybe we do well to make it a priority to take time to enter those gates.

Barry Struthers

There is something committing in speaking aloud our beliefs. “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord”, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9). It matters little if there is no other human being on hand to witness; God hears us. Once spoken the die is cast. We may renege many times on the follow through, but the commitment remains solid in the eyes of the Lord. Well acquainted with our failings, he knows that he has no perfect specimen to deal with. His job is to fashion us into the likeness of his son (Romans 8 :29) whether we co-operate fully or not. Having once tied our colours to the mast of his ship, we remain under his command, a member of his crew.
 
Trusting God for this task should be easy. Did he not do a perfect job in Jesus? Were his early disciples any harder than we are to convert? Whatever ground we offer to the Lord he will occupy fully. There are no half measures with him. Sometimes we may feel that way when we cannot summon any awareness of his presence. Jesus too went through such a time: “My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34) were the coldest words spoken at his crucifixion. And yet he, of all people, knew that God was anywhere but absent.
 
We need only to appear at his gates, so to speak, in order to enter his fortress and refuge (above). There are no other requirements. Who of us would turn a child away from our safekeeping because of bad behaviour, for instance? The story of the prodigal son (Luke 15) features the Lord rushing to meet his wayward son. No hint of retribution for the squandering of the inheritance. “Was lost.” “Now found”. End of story.

So it is with us. We can enter his fortress at any time. There is no chance that the drawbridge won’t be down waiting.

Barry Struthers

What does it mean to “dwell” in the shelter of the Most High? The word dwell inspires the thought of continuous occupation. In most of our worldly relationships our “dwelling” is more fleeting. But the Lord requires constancy ahead of anything. How else will his peace (“rest”) be sustained? The minute we wander from his shelter we are at the mercy of all the elements that would chisel away at all our gains.

In this time of world tribulation, we can see that there is nowhere safe to hide for any lengthy period. We are so interdependent on each other that at some point we must emerge from the shelters of our own making and face the threat beyond. What then?

There will be no doubt, much preparing and planning while we still have some freedom of movement. When the time comes that lockdown has been imposed there will be no further wriggle room to feather our nests. We will have to try to live with whatever we have made for ourselves. But for the Christian it is different. The scripture above does not appear in isolation, but rather is expounded in many other ways throughout the Bible. The Lord has been consistent as well as persistent with us.

So, we have somewhere to dwell that the unbeliever does not. If we are to continuously occupy (as above) then some focus is required on our part. Just as we will shortly be retreating to our homes and staying inside for the duration of the lockdown that is to come, we need to lock ourselves into the Good News of the Bible. We find that we will never be abandoned. Not in life, nor in death. We are to “dwell” forever. Together. Safe.

Barry Struthers