An Age Old Question
Is God fair?
Why do some die young? And why didn’t this happen to you or me?
Why do some die in battle? And why didn’t this happen to you or me?
Could it be that God has favorites? Does he like some more than others?
How many people, based on their perceived answers to the questions above (or many like them) turn away from God?
I’m sure it’s a lot.
They say things like:
“I can’t follow or believe in a cruel God.”
“He allowed my (fill-in-the-blank) to die even when I prayed and asked him not to. Now if I were to follow him I would be condoning the death of (fill-in-the blank).”
Welcome back to another reflection from Psalm 91.
Today’s topic is likely the greatest reason many will not trust God ever.
Today’s verses are 7-10.
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.
Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—the Most High, who is my refuge— no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.
Psalms 91:7-10 (ESV)
Another way to understand these verses if someone is no particular friend of God is to point out that many will fall, many will never see the wicked get their comeuppance, and many will be assaulted by both evil events (like wars and crime) as well as diseases. Instead, God spares just a few of his “favorites” from bad things in this world.
So the problem boils down to this. Either God is good and can be trusted
Or . . .
God is evil or a fiction and, therefore, cannot be trusted.
Which is it?
I submit to you the answer can first be found, within the selected four verses themselves.
Look again at verse 9:
Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—the Most High, who is my refuge—
The promises of God in this psalm are conditional. They first assume you and I are pursuing a strong relationship with him. When this is the case we are given more insight as to how God thinks and acts. We learn he has a plan and we grow in confidence that we are a good part of it. We stop wishing we were someone other than who we are — who God created us to be.
His promise in this Psalm is not to take us out of the battles of life nor is it to give us complete and perfect health. The promise is that God will be with us through it all and that our lives, in the midst of dangers and calamities, will achieve great things for his kingdom.
Will we see it all or understand it all while here on earth?
Where in this Psalm is that promised? I can’t find it
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—the Most High, who is my refuge—
10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15 When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”