God's word is so good. People say that God's word is "alive" - I know this is true from my personal experience. Don't you love how you can read a particular passage ten times and pick up different things in it each time? God opens my eyes so much to certain things He's saying in certain verses - verses I've read for years, yet this time, with totally new insights.
I had one of these "lightbulb" moments with Psalm 91 recently, and I want to share it with you.
If you don't recall, Psalm 91 is the, "He will order his angels to protect you....they will hold you up with their hands so you won't even hurt your foot on a stone..." chapter. The same one Satan so famously tempted Jesus with in the desert. Satan continues to use it today. It's a fantastic chapter, but, the way I see it, Satan can use it to make us doubt God, or not trust Him. A good portion of the chapter is about how we, as God's people, should not fear disease, wars, or anything else, because he will protect us, "though ten thousand are dying around you." That sounds awesome. But wait...what about all those wonderful Christians who have cancer? What about those who are struck by "the disaster that strikes in midday"? (Natural disasters, plane crashes, etc.) Where was God then? Wait a second...does God really protect His people?
Please keep reading, because I don't want to leave you with that. Honestly, this is what I always thought when I read this passage. I trust God and always have tried my best to do so, but every time I read this, I was confused, and sort of just ignored it. But my "lightbulb moment" was God's way of shifting my perspective on the verse. (Side note: it's funny and great how God sees things in our hearts that are unresolved, and without us even asking, He takes care of it.) We could take the verse the way I used to, and try to explain it away, but could it be that we've been interpreting it wrongly this whole time?
You should read the whole chapter, because it's great, but here's the chunk of it that I saw in a new way:
Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
nor the arrow that flies in the day.
Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
Though a thousand fall at your side,
though ten thousand are dying around you,
these evils will not touch you.
Just open your eyes,
and see how the wicked are punished.
If you make the Lord your refuge,
if you make the Most High your shelter,
no evil will conquer you;
no plague will come near your home.
Disclaimer: You may have your own thoughts on this passage, and I respect that. My perspective is not the only perspective, or even the "correct" one. This is just the revelation I felt that I got. :)
Honestly, I am afraid of the "terrors of night" and the "disease that stalks in the darkness". So if I took this verse to heart and decided not to worry about them...would God really protect me from all of those? Here's the thing: I don't think this passage is saying that death and disease and calamity will never come to me. It says that "these evils will not touch you." These evils may touch my body, but because I am God's child and by virtue of the fact that I "live in the shelter of the Most High", they will never touch my soul.
This passage made a lot more sense to me when I realized that my soul is protected by God, and though a lot of terrible things may happen to my body, "no evil will conquer" me. My soul can never be taken by these things, because it's written in the Book of Life and can never be erased. I may be racked and shaken, but I will not be moved. These things may kill me on the outside, but they can't kill me on the inside. They cannot get to my heart and my spirit, because God protects me.
Rest in the shadow of the Most High. It's very hard sometimes to trust God in the midst of storms, but He will reward you if you do. Remember that this world is temporary. Your troubles are temporary, but God has given you an eternal soul. If you are a child of God, nothing you go through can take your identity away, or crush your soul. Your soul is untouchable.
"The Lord says, 'I will rescue those who love me, I will protect those who trust in my name. When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.'" (Psalm 91: 14-16)
