STUDY THEME: PRAY: APPROACHING THE THRONE OF GRACE. 3-23-03

"PRAYING FOR PROTECTION." PSALM 91:1-16.

PSALM 91: 1-2, 3-6, 7-8, 9-13, 14-16.

PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO PSALM 91.

Our lesson today has to do with "PRAYING FOR PROTECTION." Everyone knows that we live in a dangerous world. Uncertainty, war, prolonged illness, automobile wrecks, polluted water, and contaminated foods all threaten our lives everyday. These are just a few of the constant realities we face each day. Dangers invariably overcome many individuals, and adversity grows for others. Do Christians have a right to expect that God will protect us from every kind of harm? If we are careless in how we drive or if we drive while we are sleepy, can we really expect God to protect us when we violate the laws of nature, which He has put into operation?

In time of danger, it is a normal and natural and virtually spontaneous reaction for a person to pay for God’s protection. I would venture that March 19, 2003 there are more prayers going up to various gods than on any day in this year. Certainly the switchboard in heaven must be well lighted.

In the famous prayer of Jabez with which we started this series, there was an element of praying for God’s protection. It is a legitimate request for the person who prays. After studying Jabez’s prayer we studied some prayers by Paul and Daniel and now this Sunday we are turning to the Psalmist to study another prayer.

Most of the Psalms were set to music and sung in the temple as part of Israel’s worship. This particular Psalm appears to be the work of a worship leader and it seems to express words of instruction and promise for those in need of divine help.

The suggested "Biblical Truth" for this lesson is that God hears and is able to answer the prayers of His people when they turn to Him for protection in a threatening situation. I am quite certain that when this lesson was planned no one could foresee the situation facing the world this week. The suggested practical "Life impact" is to help us to rely on God for protection in this precarious situation.

We Christians know that real security comes from trusting God and entrusting ourselves to Him. God is able to protect and deliver His people in threatening situations. He hears and answers His people’s prayers when they turn to Him for help. No Christians should panic in these threatening times when prayer is so available.

When we pray our prayer must be built on the foundation of the sovereignty and character of God. Prayer is as old as man, permeates all of history, and is common to all people.

As we turn now to Psalm 91 we find there is no superscription to identify the life situation. Its contents offer no clue to its origin. The language used easily applies to any danger rather than to a special threat; therefore, the scope of the prayer is universal. It applies to any and all dangers that confront God’s people.

Notice the emphasis on personal faith. The word my is used three times: my refuge…my fortress…my God. Vs. 1and 2 end with the psalmist’s personal declaration of faith: "in him will I trust."

Think of all the words we use before the word security. We speak of national security, financial security, social security, home security, and so forth. Most of us realize that none of these is truly secure. In spite of our best efforts; none of them can be the basis of the kind of trust of which only God is worthy. We sometimes sing:

Under the shadow of they throne thy saints have dwelt secure:

Sufficient is Thy arm alone, and our defense is sure.

In these next verses watch for words that describe the things people fear.

Notice the pronoun changes from "I" and "My" in vs. 1-2 to "You" in Vs. 3-13. This singular pronoun emphasizes each individual reader; you and me. The psalmist emphasized how God delivers a believer from various frightening attacks.

One morning a teacher found many empty seats in her classroom. Diphtheria had stricken the little scholars. They lay dead at their homes and others were sick. The children present gathered around the teacher and said, "What shall we do? Do you think we shall be sick and die too? The teacher said, "Children you are afraid of this disease. You grieve for the death of your little friends and you fear that you also may be taken. Listen while I read to you about a hiding place." Then she read the 91^st Psalm. The children were hushed by the sweet words, and then the morning lesson went on as usual.

The psalmist enumerated how God delivers a believer from various frightening attacks. The metaphors used in this section of the psalm constitute dangers that strike unseen. Circumstances that would entangle people’s affairs or compromise their loyalty are likened to a fowler’s snare. This trap is camouflaged so that an unsuspecting bird can be captured. God can protect an individual from every hidden danger.

The metaphors that follow are mixed and varied. Deadly pestilence frequently attacks viciously and without warning. Epidemics of pestilence and plague strike in daylight and darkness. The plague of aids that is taking the lives of so many, would be such a plague.

In areas or locations without the availability of proper medical treatment, fatal illnesses can be extremely terrifying. As we were at the airport in Kenya, East Africa waiting for the plane to bring us home, we learned that a choler epidemic had broken out. They had immediately set up an area where everyone leaving or arriving were given shots for cholera. We produced our cards showing we had the shots before leaving home and so did not have to take the shots there. Cholera is a dread disease in many parts of the world.

Night is often dreaded. Its black hours hide numerous horrors, some real and some imagined. God offers protection from such dangers. Once more the security one finds in trusting God is compared to the protection of a mother bird. Faithfulness conveys certainty. The certainty of divine protection is compared to a shield and a rampart. These items introduce the metaphor of combat in ancient Israel; Both provided protection for a soldier in battle. The shield provided

a small but, mobile cover when a warrior was in the open. The rampart offered him a large stationary location for cover from attack. They refer to the ability of God to protect His people under any circumstances.

You may remember a scene from "Little House on the Prairie: There was a grass fire that threatened the cabin. The fire had run its course and the father was walking through the field to be certain all the fire was extinguished. He came to what appeared to be a clump of grass still smoldering. As he kicked it, the burned body of the mother hen exposed the chicks that had been protected under the shelter of her wings. They were alive at the expense of the death of the mother hen. The psalmist promised God would so protect the believers who took shelter under His wings.

Terror is an appropriate word for many of the fears that people feel today. The rest of the world has lived with terrorism for years, but it is a new experience for many Americans. Some Americans have lived for many years with fear at night because of crime and gangs, but now all are aware of the possibility of terrorists among us seeking to do harm. These fears often come at night. Commenting on the dangers in vs. 2-6, Direk Kidner wrote, "Most of these dangers are of a kind which strike unseen, against which the strong are as helpless as the weak."

Believers in every age can read this Psalm to learn that nothing can harm a child of God unless the Lord permits it. Vs. 7 sounds like the testimony of a survivor of some threatening situation. They often ask, "Why did the Lord spare me?" At such times we should be careful what conclusions we draw from survival. First of all, all such survivals are of the Lord. It is only by His grace that we live and move and have our being. Life is fragile, and it is the gift of God who gave it and sustains it.

Second, we must beware of assuming that we will always be delivered. The faith of the children of God does not necessarily anticipate that harm will never come to them. What extreme statements like this one mean is that it is possible for God to defend His own in cases of seemingly inescapable dangers, and He will frequently do so.

Third, do not assume that you are being delivered because you are better than those who have perished. Jesus mentioned two disasters of His day. He asked some survivors in Lk. 13:1-5 if they thought they were better than those who perished. He told them that they were not better, but that disaster is always a call for each person to search his own heart and to repent.

The mention of the reward or punishment of the wicked in Vs 8 is not intended as a call to gloat over the fate of the wicked or to support the view that suffering or death is always punishment for sin. Survivors are not necessarily better people than those who do not survive. Some perceptive survivors of terrible ordeals testify that the best of the people were those who perished, because they often die by giving themselves for others.

During WW 1 a terrible plague of influenza broke out in America. People in and around Seminole, Ok. were stricken. At first the doctors tried to make house calls but as the number increased the doctors had to stay in the office to take care of more patients. In some instances the entire family was sick in bed, unable to prepare food. My father-in-law, John D. Magruder’s family was not stricken. They would prepare a large pot of chicken soup, put it in the wagon and he would drive from neighbor to neighbor caring for them and feeding them chicken soup. He said that during the plague, some of the neighbors died, but he and his family were never touched by the flue. God was faithful to the promise made in Ps. 91:1.

Vs. 9 picks up the message of vs. 1-2 and assumes that someone has such trust in the Lord. My refuge is in both passages as is the title most High. Thy habitation means "your dwelling." God did not merely know a place His people could dwell in security; He is the place they can dwell in security! Vs. 10 seems to promise the kind of deliverance or exemption from evil implied in Vs. 7. Since evil is used in Vs. 10 as parallel to plague, the meaning here seems to be trouble.

In Vs. 9-10 the psalmist explained that no harm or disaster can befall those who have made the Lord their refuge or shelter from danger; because He has commissioned angels to care for them. Angels protect from physical harm and give believers strength to overcome difficulties, pictured here as wild lions and dangerous snakes. Satan, in tempting Christ, quoted part of Ps. 91:11-12, which shows that even God’s most marvelous promises can be foolishly applied.

Billy Graham has written a beautiful book, "Angels—Angels---Angels" He points out that God will command His angels to protect His children. The presence of angels—God’s heavenly messengers and servants—emphasizes His watch-care over us. How many times in our own lives have angels intervened to rescue us from threatening situations?

The psalmist described angels as holding God’s children in their hands, an image that conveyed powerfully God’s protection. None would dare try to snatch them from the hands of angels! Striking one’s foot against a stone might lead to injury, though many times such a slip would not prove disastrous. Nonetheless, God’s watch-care extends to even small situations that might prove dangerous.

The positive message of Vs. 13 is that when we enter the fray at God’s bidding and in His strength, the victory is the Lord’s victory because as the story of David and Goliath shows in 1 Sam. 17:47, "The battle is the Lord’s."

Again, the Bible does not teach that God protects His people from every threatening situation.. Some have misunderstood the words no harm will befall you and no disaster will come near your tent. God does not always deliver his people from threatening situations. Some times He give the grace to endure or work through the situation

The Bible gives many examples of God actually permitting bad things to happen to His people. (Job 1:12, 2:4-6; Heb. 11:35-38). Nonetheless, the Scriptures affirm in Rom. 8:28 that God is in control, working all things together for good in believers’ lives. Believers should trust their Heavenly Father, knowing that nothing comes our way but that which He has either decreed or allowed. However, a day is coming according, to Rev. 21:3-4,when God’s people will share God’s ultimate victory over sin, suffering, and threatening situations.

The psalmist concluded with a marvelous description of God’s eight-fold blessing. The Lord began this section with the reason for His eight-fold blessing---because He loves me. To those who love Him, God promised eight blessings.

I will rescue him: God will provide a means of escape in threatening situations.

I will protect him: God sometimes removed His people from threatening situations. Acknowledging God’s name again emphasizes a close relationship with the Lord.

I will answer him: When God’s children call to Him, they know the joy of answered prayer.

I will be with him in trouble: When situations of the world press in on and confine God’s people, God promised His presence.

I will deliver him: Sometimes God’s deliverance or answer to prayer involves God removing the person from the threatening situation.

I will honor him: Because God’s people love Him, He will treat them with high esteem. Such treatment is a mark of His grace and mercy, not a mark of our merit.

With long life will I satisfy him: Believers today may not claim this blessing as an absolute guarantee; sometimes, righteous people die at an early age. At the same time, the Bible often speaks of long life as a blessing from God.

And show him My salvation: God will grant His people to see His saving work on their behalf. The repetition of "I" shows that the deliverance and help in such situations comes from the Lord and not from us.

THE FOCAL PASSAGE FOR NEXT SUNDAY’S LESSON IS 2 CHRONICLES 7: 11-22. "PRAYING WITH HUMILITY".THIS PRAYER WAS PRAYED AT THE DEDICATION OF SOLOMON’S TEMPLE. WHY DON’T YOU MEMORIZE VS. 14 BETWEEN NOW AND NEXT SUNDAY. A.V. DAUGHERTY 3-23-03