In league with the Destroyer?
You will not be afraid of the arrow that flies by day
You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Or of the arrow that flies by day;
Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. Psalm 91:5-6
Four fears that tend to haunt people are listed under the declaration, “YOU WILL NOT BE AFRAID OF…”. The top four on that list include:
- Terror by night
- The arrow that flies by day
- Pestilence that stalks in darkness
- Destruction that lays waste at noon
I’ve discovered that the more I think on and pray through Psalm 91 and other Scriptures, the less fearful I have become. And I’ve also learned that when I do get afraid, I know exactly where to turn in my Bible for comfort and relief from torment and attack.
You will not be afraid of the terror by night…
The terror by night is, more often than not, an attack on your mind—imaginary—rather than physically undergoing a terrorizing event. Nevertheless, countless hours of sleep have been lost while multitudes of souls, ravaged by fearful torments or hideous nightmares, toss and turn. If this describes you, pray Psalm 91 before you go to bed. Let yourself think about the different aspects of God’s faithfulness to you. Picture Him near, guarding you, ready to act on your behalf. And do so often.
…or of the arrow that flies by day…
A year or so ago, drivers on a section of highway just outside of my neighborhood had been shot and killed on two different occasions about a week or so apart by drive-by shooters. People started saying, “I’ll never drive on that part of the highway again! Look at what’s happening there!”
By that time, I had been praying Psalm 91 fairly frequently, and I started feeling angry. “How DARE the devil try to stake out turf on MY section of highway?” I wasn’t scared; I was offended. So I prayed.
When I knew what I was to do, I shared the direction I’d received with a Saturday morning prayer group. They prayed in agreement, asking the Lord to lead and protect me, and after prayer, I proceeded to my assignment.
First stop was my town’s police station. I simply parked in the lot and prayed in the Spirit. I asked God to give wisdom to detectives on the case to find and arrest the perpetrators before anyone else was shot; I also prayed that He would foil any attempt to continue with the crime spree until then. I prayed against copycat activity as well.
I lingered in that lot until I had a “knowing” that I was finished there and then headed for the highway.
The approximately two-mile section was nearby. As I pulled onto the entrance ramp a plan emerged. I would drive from one entrance ramp to the next exit, cross over (or under) the highway and pull back onto it, circling around and around, praying until I knew I was finished. I prayed and sang in the Spirit, up and down, up and down the highway. After the fifth or sixth lap, a Scripture rose up in me. It was Isaiah 58:12.
Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will raise up the age-old foundations;
And you will be called the repairer of the breach,
The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.
Emboldened, I continued with the laps, proclaiming these words over the highway—my section of highway! In triumph, I shouted, “Thank You, Father! YOU, and You alone are the Restorer of the streets in which to dwell…and that includes THIS section of highway, the section You’ve given to ME!”
I didn’t care what the people driving next to me were thinking; I was doing this for THEM, for their KIDS, and for their friends and families. Anyway, I was certain they’d seen weirder things than this on their travels!
And do you know that to this day, there has not been ONE shot fired on that section of highway?
Remember, Jesus told us that “…In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good courage! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33b). If the world throws some tribulation your way, you have every right to turn to the Lord to see what He would have you to do about it. Don’t just accept the mess as your “new normal”.
We were also told, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith” (1 Peter 5:8-9a). We were not told to be afraid, to wring our hands, or to stop driving our familiar routes. Sure, there may be times that the Holy Spirit will intervene to send you a different way to spare you from danger, but He will never direct you to give up ground to violence or the enemy.
May you grow stronger and stronger as you put down roots in this amazing Psalm 91.
Dorothy
You will not be afraid of the arrow that flies by day. Psalm 91:5b
© 2022, Dorothy Frick
Read MoreYou will not be afraid of the terror by night
You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Or of the arrow that flies by day;
Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. Psalm 91:5
How amazing is this verse!? Boldly, the Psalmist lists four fears common to humanity under the declaration, “YOU WILL NOT BE AFRAID…”.
The top four on the fear list include:
- Terror by night [things that go bump in the night; creeper stuff]
- The arrow that flies by day [projectiles of all kinds: drive-bys; snipers; terrorist attacks; hold ups; stick ups; home invasions]
- Pestilence that stalks in darkness [covid; flu; plagues and diseases of every kind]
- Destruction that lays waste at noon [California wildfires; Midwest tornadoes; terrorist attacks; earthquakes; etc.]
Every one of these scary potentialities has enough “oomph” to keep even the boldest among us tossing and turning, trying to sleep with one eye open, alert to the tiniest creak in the house. Hearing a noise outside can send the sleeper shooting upright in bed, heart pounding; the tiniest tickle in the throat can cause full-blown panic; and the brain’s replay of almost any given newscast can steal shuteye from the most exhausted body.
But Psalm 91 declares “YOU WILL NOT BE AFRAID”. Personalize it, and you will proclaim, “I WILL NOT BE AFRAID”, even when you DO feel afraid. You’re not lying; you’re quoting the Word of God.
The beauty of it all is that the more you interact with this Psalm and this verse (and with all of the Word of God), the more you will believe it. And the more you believe it, the more of a reality it will be in your life.
You will not be afraid of the terror by night.
I had frequent nightmares as a kid and was obsessively afraid of car accidents, break-ins, and the wolf man. Laugh if you want, but I’ll bet you had a list, too! But as I started spending time in the Bible, reading its promises, and taking them for myself, the fear levels in my life slowly decreased.
Then sometime in the last years of the Obama or the first year of the Trump administration, I sensed God saying, “Pray Psalm 91 a thousand times.” I didn’t try to do it in a hundred or even a thousand days, checking it off rapidly to get it done. No; I’m still not done! But as I walk my neighborhood or drive my car, I will likely be praying through something…and often it is Psalm 91.
I had been praying this Psalm for a good year or year and a half, and something happened that confirmed to me that I was indeed being changed on the inside by praying Psalm 91.
In the middle of the night, outside my bedroom window, I heard noises at the side gate to my backyard. I woke up for a moment, said to myself, “Oh, it’s probably just a bad guy,” and fell right back to sleep, unconcerned.
Perhaps thirty or forty minutes later, around 2 AM, I was awakened by loud banging on my front door. I peeked out the blinds and saw two police cars parked in front of my home. I threw on a robe and went to the front door, opened it, and asked, “How may I help you, Officers?”
They told me a house had been robbed a block over, and they found the perpetrator hiding in my neighbor’s bushes. When they approached him, he tore off into my back yard, and in the darkness of night, they lost him.
I think they were shocked when I declared, almost triumphantly, “I KNEW there was a bad guy back there!” They told me if I heard any other noise out there to let them know, and they went on their way.
But that lack of fear didn’t leave! I actually had to restrain myself from going outside immediately to look for loot! I just about had to take myself by the scruff of the neck and say, “Listen here, young lady! You can look for it in the morning!”
Now don’t get me wrong—praying and meditating on this Psalm will not automatically chase every fear out of your life. But when fear does crop up—and it will—you will have a well-worn path right back to the Scripture that declares “I WILL NOT FEAR” and by that, you can calm your soul as you look to God for His powerful help. And help He will.
“You will not fear the terror by night.”
Dorothy
© Dorothy Frick, 2021
Read MoreHis faithfulness
… His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. Psalm 91:4b, ESV
First, let’s take a quick look at this shield and buckler. According to Strong’s Concordance, the shield mentioned here is large and covers the whole body. As for the buckler, some references describe it as smaller (Merriam Webster), portable (biblestudytools.com), and often worn on the forearm or held by a handle (forwhatsaiththescriptures.org). As a result, I like to think of this shield/buckler duo as defensive spiritual weaponry, able to cover ALL incoming attacks against me, whether large or small.
Moreover, as I’ve been praying through Psalm 91, this phrase—His faithfulness is my shield and my buckler—has revolutionized my thinking about FAITH IN GOD. Follow with me as I explain.
You see, I have listened to some of the premiere preachers on the topic throughout the past 40 or so years and felt I “knew” just about all there was about faith, having been taught by the best. And yet when push came to shove, whenever a situation arose which demanded faith on my part, I often struggled, wondering if my faith was sufficient.
I knew that in Ephesians 6, one article in the full armor of God is the shield of faith. I also knew that according to Ephesians 6:16, the shield of faith quenches every flaming missile of the evil one. And here, in Psalm 91:4, I read that GOD’S faithfulness itself was my shield and buckler.
Since God provides us with the shield of faith, and since His very own faithfulness is also our shield and buckler, my lightning-fast mind started sniffing out a connection! Could it be that individual human faith—as limited as it often seems to be—was actually a product of the big, all-encompassing faithfulness of God? I was on to something!
I had been taught to have faith in my faith. Well, my faith sometimes seemed pretty shoddy, to tell you the truth, and trying to rustle up faith in my pipsqueak faith left me discouraged, not encouraged.
But here, in Psalm 91:4, all the pressure was on God’s faithfulness, not my own faith! The faithfulness of God was a shield in which I could trust without wavering; my own faith, on the other hand tended to rise and fall with my emotions.
Then it hit me: God never called us to trust in our own faith. From the very beginning, all He wanted us to do was to trust in HIM—in HIS faithfulness to us.
It is His faithfulness that is a shield for you. You don’t need to concern yourself one bit with how big or powerful your own faith is; your job is to trust Him and His big, beautiful faithfulness. His job is to shield you.
Once I realized that my faith has been indelibly linked to His faithfulness to shield me, I was finally free. No longer do I need to crank up enough faith. No matter what may come my way, large or small, His faithfulness to me is my shield and my buckler.
And no matter what may come YOUR way, large or small, His faithfulness to you will be your shield and buckler as well!
Dorothy
Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. 1 Thessalonians 5:24
© Dorothy Frick, 2021
Read MoreAllow the “joy invaders”
What Esther can teach the Church
I’m reading through the book of Esther today. When I landed on chapter 4, I was amazed at its parallel to our time.
A decree had been issued (chapter 3) throughout Susa and the entire kingdom of King Ahasuerus (which stretched from India to Ethiopia, over 127 provinces according to chapter 1…think Afghanistan smack dab in the middle) to slaughter all Jews in one day and to seize their possessions as plunder. This decree was the brainchild of Haman, who had a personal grudge against Esther’s cousin Mordecai.
You see, Mordecai had refused to bow the knee to Mr. Haman…and that was a blow to Haman’s overinflated ego; and he concocted a plan to get the king to sign off on the mass genocide of Jews. Whenever genocide of any race, religion, or ethnicity is on the table, you better believe petty, unresolved EGO, JEALOUSY, and SIN are at the root of it all.
Chapter 4 opens with Mordecai discovering the diabolical plot of Haman, and his response is very eye-opening. Did he hide away, in the terror of alarm? Did he seek to flee to a distant land? NO. He tore his clothes and threw on sackcloth, the garb of public mourners, and went directly to the open square and to the palace gates, wailing loudly and bitterly.
Many of us do exactly that when we speak of grievances to others and post them publicly on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. We share videos and articles. We attend various meetings, rallies, and write to our Congress people. And, I believe, we are getting bolder in so doing.
But when Queen Esther found out that Mordecai was making a scene, she was OFFENDED. How do I know that? She sent a clean, respectable set of clothes for him to change into immediately. He refused.
At this point in the chapter, the question arose within me concerning our present state of affairs: In YOUR quest to make the truth of our current situation known, have you run into mockery? Scorn? Censorship? Even among your brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ or members of your own family? Are they DEMANDING you to squelch your growing concern? Does it make them uneasy? Angry? Esther was very uncomfortable with Mordecai’s open display of grievance.
Did her discomfort sway him? Absolutely not. He rejected his dearest relative’s offer to change into the clothing of status quo, and he was resolute in his refusal.
Verse 4 reveals that Esther writhed in agony at his rebuff of her “sound” offer. Perhaps your dearest friends don’t understand you; they worry about you; they have backed away from you. Perhaps they’ve INCREASED their pressure to get you to conform. Whatever may be your situation, you have become a pariah.
Fortunately, however, Esther was willing to research and step out of her comfort zone to learn an inconvenient truth. She sent to Mordecai to discover why he was so upset.
Then things got VERY interesting; from Mordecai she received the news that Haman had placed all Jews under a “seek and destroy” decree throughout the kingdom. ALL Jews. HER people. Mordecai sent her a copy of the very document that detailed the upcoming slaughter. Did Esther scream, “FAKE NEWS”?
No. Esther became red pilled.
Once YOU are red pilled to any agenda of harm, you need to act accordingly. God has given each of us varying gifts and talents, passions and pursuits in which He beckons us to act. You need to go before Him to hear Him for yourself. No one else can do that for you. Hear Him; and then DO what He says.
Esther, being the king’s wife, had a peculiar role to fulfill in this whole red pill experience. In those days, in the Medo/Persian area of the Middle East, women—including beloved wives—had little to no leverage, even in approaching their husbands.
But Esther knew she could not remain in the shadow of opulent anonymity; she had to approach the king despite the potential loss of her life. She had not seen her husband in thirty days; she probably wondered if he had decided she wasn’t quite what he wanted…maybe a new young thing had already caught his eye…
She risked enraging him, and then—death.
But now red pilled, Esther mustered all her courage; called for a three day fast; and declared that after the fast “I will go into the king, which is not according to the law, and if I perish, I perish” (verse 16).
Perhaps God in His wisdom is directing YOU to speak up and stand out contrary to our current cultural convention. He will make it clear to you as you seek Him…and then, like a godly soul from New Testament times declared when confronted accusingly by his culture, you can also say, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard ” (Acts 4:19-20).
May the blessing of boldness be on you this hour,
Dorothy
© Dorothy Frick, 2021
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