Praying Psalm 91: God’s protection

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By Hal Green
Pondering Prayer

Green

There is surely no grander statement of faith in God than Psalm 91. It is a psalm to carry in your heart, especially when seeking God’s protection from evil of all manner, including “deadly pestilence,” which we recently endured with COVID-19. As you read and pray the first 10 verses, imagine how you would feel if you truly believed in and acted on these words. Imagine the peace, assurance and strength these promises of God could generate in your heart:

“You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.’ For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence; he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day, or the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or the destruction that wastes at noonday. 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 punishment of the wicked. Because you have made the LORD your refuge, the Most High your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent”  (Ps 91:1-10).

What does the psalm say is the key to your safety? That you live in the shelter of God as your refuge and fortress. This intensifies in the remarkable final three verses of this psalm, which are truly soaked in radical, biblical faith. I will quote the RSV translation, changing the grammatical third person into the second person, to render it more personal and powerful. I invite you to pray these two verses, as if God is actually saying them to you:

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“Because you cleave to me in love, I will deliver you. I will protect you, because you know my name. When you call to me, I will answer you; I will be with you in trouble, I will rescue you and honor you. With long life I will satisfy you, and show you my salvation” (Ps 91:14-16 RSV paraphrase). 

Most significantly, the “cleave” in the original Hebrew means “devotion,” signifying cleaving to, as lovers cleave to each other or as parents and children cling to one another. The message? Cleave to God now and God will take care of you, all the way to your eternal life.

(Hal Green, Ph.D., is author of  Pray This Way to Connect with God. You can contact him at drhalgreen@gmail.com.)


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