Psalm 91:5-6 – “You shall not be afraid of the terror by night. Nor of the arrow that flies by day, Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.”
Where does fear come from? It is not from God. ”for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:7) With God by our side we have power on our side. We have love and self-control in His presence. We have God as our shelter and refuge. We get our strength and courage from this fact. And when we feel stuck in deep fear it indicates our lack of faith in God as protector and comforter. “Not to be afraid” itself is a blessing because many of our suffering or problems stems from this cause. We are not afraid because even though we go through problems and bad times, we know that the final control is in God’s hands and God wants the best for us.
In the scripture, the psalmist covers all types of destruction in all types of circumstances – which could come by night or noonday; destruction could come as terror or by an arrow, as a pestilence or as destruction. When evil accidents are most terrible and least avoidable. It could be a shooting by day. Terror by night could be evil spirits at work. Destruction could also be dangers, plagues, bad things and fighting. Whatever be the source of destruction or however it comes, we know one thing, our God will defend us.
These verses tell us not to be afraid! If we trust in God i.e we ask God for help and believe that He will give it, then God will protect us from illness and evil spirits. Even if we become ill through a plague, God will protect us even after we die. We will live with God in Heaven. And God will always protect us from evil spirits. We can go to God any time and anywhere. We can pray to Him and He will hear and answer us. But for all this to happen we need to do one thing – we must love and obey God. We have the promise of great security in the midst of danger. Wisdom keeps us from being afraid without cause, and faith keeps us from being unduly afraid. We know that through it all, our heavenly Father’s will is done; and we have no reason to fear. We shall see God’s promises fulfilled that we can then encourage others to trust in Him also.
