Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Preaching
A Journey Through the Psalms: Reflections for Worried Hearts and Troubled Times
Preaching the Psalms Cycles A, B, C
Object:
This psalm represents a real struggle for most people. Simply put, the psalmist is positing that if you trust enough in God, no evil will befall you. At the risk of contradicting scripture, let it be said that even the most simple among us know this to be false. The world is full of good God-trusting people who have fallen victim to evil. From innocents who happen to be in the path of a bomb dropped from 20,000 feet to the millions around the world who succumb to the AIDS pandemic, the innocent do perish no matter how much they trust in God. Certainly, as Christians, we know what happened to Jesus who trusted God and went the distance to the cross.
No pastor worth his or her salt would ever let congregants believe that Christian faith amounts to an insurance policy against bad things happening. Yet here in this psalm, the faithful must contend with what was obviously a part of Jewish piety at the time that this was written.
Let it be said, instead, that the protection that the faithful receive from God is not safety from life's calamities. It is the security and sense of power that comes from the assurance that God accompanies the faithful through life's travails. Paul says it best in Romans.
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
-- Romans 8:31-39
Indeed, our trust in God is not betrayed when trouble arrives. We are, instead, accompanied through these woes by a mighty Savior.
No pastor worth his or her salt would ever let congregants believe that Christian faith amounts to an insurance policy against bad things happening. Yet here in this psalm, the faithful must contend with what was obviously a part of Jewish piety at the time that this was written.
Let it be said, instead, that the protection that the faithful receive from God is not safety from life's calamities. It is the security and sense of power that comes from the assurance that God accompanies the faithful through life's travails. Paul says it best in Romans.
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
-- Romans 8:31-39
Indeed, our trust in God is not betrayed when trouble arrives. We are, instead, accompanied through these woes by a mighty Savior.
