Phyllis Nissila
For the complete booklet of Psalm 91 devotionals, click here.
“You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.”
Through it All, Big and Small
Whoa.
According to verses 5 and 6, if it isn’t terrors it’s arrows and pestilence and plagues (“Oh, my!”), and if one reads through Revelation sometimes the mayhem, muck, and misery comes at us all at once! Not only that, if all the fearsomeness isn’t bad enough at midday (cue the Jaws theme), just wait until dark!
But besides big-ticket trouble, there is plenty of small stuff that garners grief. Fortunately, the same God Who provides the shield or covering referenced in the previous devotional also provides a “small shield,” or “buckler” (as it is referenced in the KJV), for the “hand-to-hand combat” of daily difficulties.
And the weapons? God’s own Words, “sharper than any two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12), the same spiritual ordnance, if you will, Jesus employed to overcome Satan’s temptations at the close of (Jesus’) forty day desert deployment (see Matthew 4:1-11).
No matter the size or scope of “incoming,” God has our back. Good thing, too.
More often than not, our battles are not of biblical proportion; they are the relentless pokes and prods the “enemy” uses to make us turn from the truth of Who God is and the truth of who we are. And, like “the little foxes” attempting to “destroy the vine,” (Song of Solomon 2:15), these little barbs can also dishearten, discourage, and damage.
But whether the onslaught is catastrophic or chronic there is Someone Who is awake and on call 24/7, Who, as Psalm 121:4 indicates, “neither slumbers nor sleeps.”
He knows about the prophesied Big Events and the daily dilemmas. He is Jehovah-Jireh: the Lord Who provides, Who “sees to it” [1], Who sees to us.
Here is “some shield and buckler,” courtesy of God’s Word, for what you may face today:
“Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17, AKJV).
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19, NASB).
The battle is the Lord’s (see 2 Chronicles 20:15; 1 Samuel 17:47; Ephesians 6:12; and 2 Chronicles 32:7 for historical and personal encouragement).
Invitation
Share your own story about God’s provision.
***
[1] https://bible.org/seriespage/compound-names-jehovah-jireh-rapha-nissi-session-60
Related articles
- Psalm 91 in the Midst of the Fray: Verse 4, and Share Your Story (pnissila.wordpress.com)
- Psalm 91 in the Midst of the Fray: Verse 3 (pnissila.wordpress.com)
- Psalm 91 in the Midst of the Fray: Preface, Verses 1-2, and Share Your Story (pnissila.wordpress.com)
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An encouraging addendum if guilt plagues you today:
As I discuss Psalm 91 with my fellowship group, and Psalm 91 seems to be the “scripture of the remnant” these days as evidenced by reading and listening to other preachers and teachers, it occurs to me more and more to urge you to “look up,” for, as it truly seems, our redemption is close.
The reason I stress this is because there is a certain genre of preaching bordering on condemnation, I think, that continually causes us to focus, focus, focus on our sin, our shortcomings, on how we have failed to do this or that, and on and on.
And, of course, the reality is we did, do, and will fail (which is why, beloved, Jesus died on the cross).
There is no end of sermon fodder in that truth.
HOWEVER, the danger in such continual focus on how we fall short is that it can become highly distracting and cause us to get our eyes off of what Jesus did for us on the cross, once and for all time, what God is doing NOW, and what we can do these days–today–to “be about His business,” having left our sin and failure at that cross.
You see, although there is plenty of blame from others and self to keep us mired in the misery of guilt and blame and shame from now until, literally, eternity, a continual focus on this keeps our eyes on ourselves and not on the redemption God provided for us so that we can get to the real and urgent business of the day.
(And doesn’t Satan love it when we are distracted?)
I encourage you today to deal quickly with whatever repentance and thanksgiving for forgiveness might be needed at the moment, and then to be about the business God has gifted you for–and entrusted you with–with a grateful heart and the resultant joyful spirit.
For the days may be short.
Cheers and Blessings,
Phyllis
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