Debate Magazine

Start the Day with Faith Instead of Fear

By Eowyn @DrEowyn

Headline news and Psalm 91

It’s Monday December 1 2014. The headlines on FoxNews today are, “Expect more race riots, and expect islamic terrorist acts on airlines and shopping malls.”

I paraphrased the headlines, but that is the basic message. The “Reverend” Al Sharpton was shown speaking at a couple of “churches” Sunday, vowing to continue instigating violence in the streets of our cities. And Al-Qaeda, seeking to not be out done by ISIS, has been planning to stage Christmas attacks using airliners flying from the UK to America.

This kind of stuff could send me spiraling into the dark all day. Well, like you, I have a lot of work to do today, and being paralyzed by fear is NOT on the list.  So instead of starting our day with FEAR, let’s start instead with FAITH.

Psalm 91 addresses virtually everything that a human being could fear. History records military regiments that committed to reading it daily during war, and returned with all their people unharmed.  It was so important that Satan tried to misuse it induce the Lord Jesus into using it in a wrong way; to use it presumptuously, rather than in faith.

The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Keep one thing in mind if you want to be sheltered by God’s protection. The psalm lists conditions that must be met:

Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

Meet those conditions, and enter the rest that Jesus offers.

Psalm 91 (NIV)

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”
Surely he will save you
    from the fowler’s snare
    and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
    nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes
    and see the punishment of the wicked.
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
    and you make the Most High your dwelling,
no harm will overtake you,
    no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
    you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
    I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call on me, and I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble,
    I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him
    and show him my salvation.”

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