Psalm 91

Psalm 91, Deuteronomy 1:19-45, Psalm 56:8, Romans 8:22-23

I pray Psalm 91 every night. It started as a way just to curb my anxiety (anyone else paranoid that a murderer is going to break into their house? Just me?). I would pray over and over again that God would protect me and that I would be hidden by Him. As I continued to lay in bed night after night and pray this psalm I started to find that it applied to more than my nightmares, but as people I knew started experiencing hardships and tragedies it became the promise I would cling to.

This psalm is a beautiful reminder of God’s love and protection for His children. However, if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably experienced something that has caused you to wonder if these promises were true. Maybe you knew someone who passed away from coronavirus, or a family member fell prey to addiction. Maybe you’ve experienced financial hardship, or you lost something that was really important to you. How can these words be true when we still experience so much hardship in the world?

Our timetable isn’t the same as the Lord’s. When we think about deliverance and salvation, oftentimes what we really want is an immediate end to our pain. And that’s not a bad thing. Our struggle is never hidden from the Lord, His ways are just different from ours. As we reflect on this psalm, what I hope we would remember is that God has already delivered us from the domain of darkness, and we have been rescued from the consequences of our sin. 

Eternity is waiting for us, we have a beautiful inheritance because through Christ, we are given a relationship with our heavenly Father who is working things out for our good and His glory. Darkness will remain on earth and we will continue to live in the balance of mourning and dancing. I am praying that we would find comfort that in the fact that although we will face hardship, we are in the presence of the Lord, and God’s presence in trouble is far better than the absence of trouble without Him.