Keeping Safe in Times of Trouble

Keeping Safe in Times of Trouble

Psalm 91

            “[The one] who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.”

            This is a powerful psalm.  It promises God’s protection in all kinds of trouble:  pestilence, the terrors of the night, slings and arrows, noonday destruction, plague.  In all these trials God will shelter the one who trusts completely.

            Is this true?  If it is, no believer would be worried about the current health threat, Covid-19, the coronavirus pandemic that is sweeping nearly every country on this planet.  Yet we know that cannot be true.  Many among those who are ill, and many among those who have died must be sincerely faithful in their trust in God.  Many must have sought refuge under God’s protective wings.  How then can we reconcile the psalmist’s words of protection with the reality of what we see happening around us?

            Should we say, “Well, this was true when it was written, but it may not be true now?” 

            Should we say, “God’s protection is only valid if we follow the suggestions of the health personnel?”

            “Should we say (most pernicious of all), “Well, their faith just wasn’t strong enough?’

            Should we say (equally as cruel), “It was God’s will that they should become ill, or die.  God’s ways are beyond our understanding.  God must have had a reason for letting this happen?”

            I don’t know about you, but I am offended by these answers.  They posit a God who plays favorites, who makes decisions on a whim, who plays some sort of game of “eenie, meenie, minie, mo” with our lives.  This is not a God I can believe in or worship. 

            But we are still stuck with the promise.  The psalm says God will protect those who seek shelter in the presence of the Most High, who rely faithfully on the protection of the Almighty.  Is there a way to claim this promise even though it seems not to be true?

            Perhaps our problem lies in our taking the words at face value.  It’s easy to do that, to read the words on the page and come to the conclusion they mean exactly what they say, with no subtlety of interpretation, no search for deeper insights.

            First, we have to overcome two problems with any text written originally in another time and another language.  Any version we read of this psalm in our everyday Bibles is a translation from the original Hebrew.  One of the “toys” I use in sermon preparation is a Jewish Study Bible.  Often the notation in the margin will say, “meaning of Hebrew unclear,” or some such words.  I’m not saying this applies here, but there are always problems in translating from one language to another—even for experts.

            There are also problems in translating from one era to another.  Those problems become more involved the greater the distance in time between the two eras (ours and the one in which the text was originally composed).  Something is always lost in trying to understand the past.

            Second, we must be aware that what the psalmist means by protection may not be what we mean.  How does God protect us in times of danger?  We know God does not always save us.  God never promised us a trouble-free life.  We are as susceptible to hard times as any non-believer.  There is no bed of roses for us any more than anyone else.

            God promises to be with us in times of trouble.  God may not free us from hard times, but God will see us through.  Through Isaiah God says, “When you pass through the waters I will be with you.”  That’s a promise we can believe.