Afterwords -- week 24
"You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday." (Ps 91:5-6 ESV)
June 5, 2022
Dear friends,
The Christian faces a number of opponents to his growth in God's grace. Commonly they are summarized as the world, the flesh, and the devil. Our flesh (indwelling sin) works against us, constantly. The devil would have us believe lies and so lose faith. And the world (the influence of fallen humanity) seeks to press us into conformity with its proud and idolatrous ways. I've been thinking about this quote from Francis Schaeffer from several decades ago:
"We are naive if we do not realize that we too are surrounded by a uniform culture (I sometimes call it a monolithic culture), which claws at us from our birth to our death. Not only in obvious ways we can easily comprehend but also in subtle ways, a thousand voices express its mentality. Yet when we translate what we hear, we discover that there is really only one voice, the spirit of the world, and the particular form that world spirit takes in our day." (Francis Schaeffer, No Little People)
Add to this the physical and material challenges we face -- health, finances, work, family problems, the economy, political strife -- and we quickly realize our vulnerability in this world.
OUR REFUGE AND FORTRESS. But God says, "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty" (Psalm 91:1). The psalmist says that those who trust in God are placed under divine protection. The threats being faced at that time -- then as now -- included military threats (arrows), natural disaster (pestilence and plague), and spiritual forces (the lion, adder, and serpent). Evil shall not overcome the one whose trust is in the Lord, and who takes shelter under his wings. Does this mean that if we trust God we won't experience any of these threats? Verses 11 and 12 help us: they were quoted by Satan to Jesus in order to get him to test the Lord by jumping from the pinnacle (Matt 4:5-7). The uniqueness and comprehensiveness of these promises (protection from every evil), would lead us to understand this as a Messianic psalm, applying directly to Jesus. It applies to us secondarily as those who are united to Christ (2 Cor 1:20; Eph 1:3).
YOU WILL NOT FEAR. This does not mean that we will never stumble or break a bone, or die of a disease, but rather, that none of these things will ever separate us from God and his good plan for us. This is because we are eternally in union with Christ (Rom 8:31-39; Eph 2:6). We belong to the Lord and no one will snatch us out of his hand (John 10:28-29). We can say, with the Apostle Paul, "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom 8:38-39).
THANKFULNESS TO GOD. In a local small group we have been studying the Apostle Paul's prison epistles (AD 60-62). One of the recurrent themes is offering prayer with thanksgiving (Eph 1:16; Phil 4:6; Col 4:2). Note: Paul is writing this as a prisoner in Rome. Yet, his joy and hope is much larger than his circumstances and he gives thanks to the Lord for all the good things which come from his hand. This truth is echoed in Psalm 30, which I read this week. David writes in view of the gathering of God's people in worship (the superscription says the temple dedication), that he himself was raised up from "the pit" to proclaim God's praise. He concludes, "You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!" (30:11-12) As believers we too should always give thanks to the Lord whenever we approach him in prayer and praise. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, "It is only with gratitude that life becomes rich." Our world is filled with words of complaint, fear, prejudice, deceit, and anger. As God's children our mouths should be filled with praise and thanksgiving for the sovereign and generous God whom we serve.
BIBLE READING. I wrote a Bible reading guide based upon the M'Cheyne reading schedule (over two years). Here are the passages from a year ago this weekend. And here's from two years ago.
FINAL QUOTE. "Those blessings are sweetest that are won with prayers and worn with thanks." (Thomas Goodwin)
That's it for week 24!
Sandy
Image credit. Photo above by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash.