Psalm 91:9-16 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 91:9-16 on biblegateway.com
Verse 9Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your dwelling place,
Verse 10no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent.
Verse 11For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
Verse 12On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
Verse 13You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
Verse 14Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name.
Verse 15When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them.
Verse 16With long life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation.
Devotion
How do these soaring words of promise align with yesterday’s reading from Isaiah about the Suffering Servant of God? Martin Luther insisted that Bible readers must note to whom the words are addressed—whom the psalmist in verse one addresses as those who have made “the Most High your dwelling place.” How can we claim to share the psalmist’s promises alongside millions who have suffered even much more than the psalmist would seem to allow? An answer lies in hearing God’s promises from the perspective of the whole counsel of God as contained in the scriptures. We let Scripture interpret Scripture. In this way I can understand these words of the psalm to be congruous with a life of suffering only in relation to every believers’ ultimate goal to live by the promises of God. The Apostle Paul’s words are helpful to me. “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). Unbelievers scoff; Believers rejoice.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, in pain and suffering, loss and death, your shelter hovers over us and surrounds us, and we are safe. Thank you from today to eternity. Amen.
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