Under His Wings

Psalm 91
Romans 8:35-39

There has been controversy over the centuries about whether or not the believer in God is protected from the tragedies of life. My mother was quite shocked when she started having some of the problems common to aging. She felt that God was not keeping up his end of the bargain. She had been an honorable woman, had kept the commandments, raised her children in the church, and worked hard her whole life. How could God allow this? Hadn't he promised that she would be spared? Isn't that what Psalm 91 promises? It promises refuge, freedom from fear, and that the wicked will be punished but it will not come near you. You will be guarded, no harm will befall you, and no disaster will come near your tent. Angels will be sent to guard you, they will lift you up so that you will not dash your foot against a stone. "I will protect him for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me and I will answer him." Yes, it is easy to see that believers are protected in a way that the wicked are not.

The psalm is discussing the destruction of the wicked. It will be a terrible sight, but the psalm says that the righteous will be spared that punishment. As Christians we know that God through Jesus has saved us. Thousands will fall but it will not come near us.

If we look a little closer, we will begin to see another important thing. Looking at verse 5, it says that you will not fear the terror of night, the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, the plague that destroys at midday. What is being promised is not that those things will never come near you, but that you need not fear them. The psalmist is in the midst of these very things. He is not sitting on some cozy hillside a million miles away. Fear is a great incapacitator. It freezes one in place and inhibits one from moving forward. It makes us literally sick to our stomachs. It scrunches us in so that we can see nothing but the danger. The psalm says that we will not fear. Why? Because we love God and God will protect us because we acknowledge his name. The Lord says "I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him." Trouble exists but we are not alone in it. There is nothing that can destroy the essence of our being. God has promised us eternal life. Our outer can waste away, but inwardly we are being renewed.

Paul wraps it up beautifully in Romans 8. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written 'For you sake we face death all the day long; we are considered sheep to be slaughtered.' No in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, not any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Indeed, we are sheltered under his wings.

As a Christian how do you view the protection of God?