Devotional on Psalm 91
by Kyle Newcomer
A century ago a pastor in Washington, D.C. named Francis Grimké shared his reflections on the Spanish Flu epidemic that had swept through the country and closed down public gatherings, including churches. You can read his reflections here, or you can listen to a reading of the sermon in this podcast episode. At one point in the sermon Pastor Grimké quoted these words from Psalm 91:1-7
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.
And then he said this:
Here there seems to be the promise of immunity in the midst of plagues and pestilences. What this means I do not know. How far we may expect immunity under such circumstances, I do not know. These words cannot mean that all good people will escape, and that only the bad will be smitten: for, as a matter of fact, we know that during every epidemic some very good people are smitten, and some, not very good people, escape. And, therefore, I say, I do not know what is meant by the promise contained in this Ninety-first Psalm. It refers to those who “dwell in the secret place of the Most High.” But who are they? How shall we know them? How shall we discriminate between them and all others? It won’t do to say, all who are smitten are excluded, or that all who escape are included, because we know that such is not the case. It is one of those inscrutable things that we cannot explain; we know the fact and that is all. The ultimate explanation must be found in the sovereign will of God. It must be because He wills it.
I appreciate the way Grimké does not try to answer this question, but points us to the soverign will of God. In a time like this, our collective ignorance is exposed. We have our smartest minds working on the problem of the coronavirus. We have virologist, public health experts, economists, manufacturers, doctors, and nurses working their hardest. In God’s mercy, we pray that they will arrive at solutions and remedies to all the problems this crisis presents. But as of now, we see clearly how much we don’t know. Now more than ever, we sense how much our lives rest in the sovereign will of God. His ways are not our ways.
As Pastor Grimké points out, we don’t know why this disease strikes some and spares others. It can be hard to know what to make of promises like the ones we find in Psalm 91. The Coronavirus doesn’t discriminate based on religious faith. There are saints who have passed into eternity because of this disease. It is not left to us to know why some survive and some are taken. It must be because God wills it.
But as keenly as we feel this mystery ourselves today, I think the person who most experienced it was Jesus himself. If anyone should have been able to lay claim to a life free from suffering, it should have been him. The second half of the Psalm dives even deeper into the mystery of Christ's suffering.
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."
Do you recognize the words of verses 11 and 12? They are words that Satan quoted to Jesus when he was tempting Jesus to throw himself off the top of the temple. Satan was tempting Christ to put God to the test, to prove that God would protect him. Jesus resists the temptation, only to be presented with another temptation: this time Satan offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, if only he will bow down and worship Satan. These two temptations are related. The first temptation would provide a kind of immediate validation for Jesus. If he leaped from the tower and the angels preserved him, it would have been like getting to experience resurrection without death. The second temptation would have provided immediate glory for Jesus. He would enjoy universal rule and reign, but again, without having to die and endure the wrath of God against sin. Glorification without humiliation. There is no doubt that, as the Son of God, Jesus was glorious and he deserved to live a pain-free life. As a man he was sinless and perfectly devoted to God. He is the only person who ever lived who perfectly fits the description of verse 14: “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him. I will protect him because he knows my name” Jesus is the only human who ever perfectly loved God. He is the one who had perfect knowledge of God’s name. He deserved protection from God.
But the Son of God knew that he had taken on flesh for a specific purpose: to die in the place of sinners. And so again we confront Pastor Grimké's mystery. Why are some righteous smitten while some wicked are spared? Jesus is the perfectly holy one, and yet he was stricken, smitten and afflicted, as the hymn says. He was God's beloved Son, yet treated as if he were excluded from God's family. What a mystery, that God saves through the death of the Son of God! He triumphed through the grave. “I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.” Our Lord’s honor comes after his trouble, his glorification after his humiliation.
As we find ourselves in times of trouble, we may very well want to lay claim to the promises of Psalm 91, and we should. We should trust that “with long life [he] will satisfy [us] and show [us his] salvation.” But we claim these promises knowing mystery of the gospel, that our sinless Savior was not spared from suffering. We follow the path of the crucified and risen Christ. We may succumb to a plague or some other illness. We will face trouble, just like Jesus did. But just as God did not abandon Christ to the grave, he will be with us in our trouble, even through death. But the ultimate pestilence and plague that our sin deserves, the plague of God’s final condemnation for sin, that we will never face because Jesus bore our sins in his body on the cross. Our hope in the midst of this epidemic is not in a name-it-and-claim-it kind of prosperity theology. Our sure and certain hope is that God loves us for Christ's sake. Because we belong to him, all things must work together for our salvation, and we are assured of eternal life.
Hymn: He Will Hold Me Fast
Prayer:
O Most High God, you are our refuge and our fortress. When we abide in you and your words, there is peace and safety. Not the fleeting peace of earthly riches and good health for today. Those things come and go. But because we belong to you, nothing can separate us from your love. You cover us with your wings. As the world mocks us, help us to cling to your wisdom. When the devil lies to us, bind your truth to our hearts. When our desires draw us away from you, help us fight to gaze at your grace and use our gifts to serve others. We rejoice that Christ is our righteousness. Because Christ held fast to you in love, you will hold us fast. Because he suffered for our sake, you satisfy us with long life. We call to you now in Christ name, and know you will answer us. Amen.