It will not come near you
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. Psalm 91:7-8, ESV
As I ponder these words, I believe them with all my heart; but I realize that life hasn’t always been so safe and sound for many of you. So as you are reading, know that I am not blind to or callous about all the struggles, losses, and pain that so many have faced (including me). However, like King Hezekiah when he learned of his soon death, I am choosing to turn my face to the wall—the wall of God’s Word. Not only that, but I have also made up my mind that His promise will be my testimony and faith no matter how many negatives I can count on both hands. And like Hezekiah, I believe that I will see the salvation of God in so doing. The good news is, the more we meditate on this Word, our more our confidence in His marvelous help will grow.
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand…
A thousand—no, ten thousand! —may fall at your right hand. The picture the Lord has painted here is of huge devastating forces—perhaps war or terror attacks, horrific accidents, wildfires, or raging storms. Unfortunately, we have seen far too many catastrophes like these leaving a wake of destruction, despair, and death.
…but it will not come near you.
You may be in the midst of upheaval, but here the Lord reveals that He is capable of reaching into the gravest of predicaments to cover you, hide you, lift you, whisper strategy in your ear—whatever is necessary at that exact moment—to secure your protection.
You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.
As God’s “escape hatch” opens up for you, keep your eyes peeled. This is because He is not only an expert at delivering those who fear Him, but if the danger you face stems from foul play or a targeted trap, He will also see to it that those who meant to harm you will be “recompensed” or “rewarded” according to what they intended for you. The Bible declares, “God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).
Dare to believe that God cares enough about YOU to be faithful to fulfill His beautiful promise to protect you in hazardous times.
…it will not come near you.
Dorothy
© 2024, Dorothy Frick
Read MoreYou will not be afraid of destruction
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
About ten years ago I felt led to pray Psalm 91 “a thousand times.” I’ve probably done so, but according to my log, I’m only in the 770’s (I tend to forget to mark it down). But when I DO finally scratch off #1000, I know I’ll keep going…because Psalm 91 is potent!
I started writing my thoughts about this psalm verse by verse a few years ago, but got refocused on other things while writing about verses five and six. And now it’s high time to pick this thread back up—with the second half of verse six:
You will not be afraid of the destruction that lays waste at noon.
I love how this Psalm blatantly states what seems to be emotionally impossible considering the onslaught of scary news blasting our way on a regular basis.
This is what the Word of God declares—you will not be afraid of destruction that lays waste at noon.
Fear is powerful. Tyrants of all generations have used it to control populations to bend them to their will. Fear of the unknown, fear of the dark, fear of sudden attack, fear of sickness, fear of “If you don’t do as I say, you’ll suffer greatly,” spoken out of the mouths of those who purport to know better than the rest of us continue to haunt people who simply want to live and let live.
I have found that the best way for me to live fearlessly is to recognize fear as soon as it starts to take hold and to face off with it. However, in the past I chose to pretend that I wasn’t afraid; I pretended that nothing all that bad was going on, and I simply buried my head in the sand, closing my eyes to reality. Instead of trusting God, I trusted my own imaginary ability to pretend away danger. This was an exercise in futility; this was NOT an exercise of faith in God.
So how do you face off with fear once you recognize it in yourself? Best way I’ve found is to first acknowledge it to God, and then prayerfully go to His Word and find those scriptures that bring comfort, strength, and the ability to resist both the fear AND the thing that created fear in the first place.
I was a natural born scaredy cat; but when I started turning to the Word to combat my fears, I found it a very effective weapon. Even now, when “things go bump in the night” or frightening news grips my emotions, I unashamedly turn to Psalm 56:3 (which, I know from experience, is easily memorized!), “What time I am afraid, I will trust in YOU.”
No one should be made to feel ashamed when dealing with fear. It happens. But when it does, forge a fast path to the One who can help you—who won’t condemn you—but who will give you all that you need to stand in the face of it while He covers you.
I have also learned that instead of allowing my imagination to play all the different scenarios of destruction over and over again, I am to take those thoughts captive (not ignore them or pretend them away) to the obedience of Christ while I declare my trust in Him to help me, come hell or high water.
In addition, I’ve learned that I don’t have to tell Him HOW to help me. He is very capable of doing so in a multitude of creative, jaw-dropping ways. I merely trust Him to do so, and He does. Often it is rather mundane appearing; but now and then He has astonished me with such inexplicable deliverances from danger that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt—this was God.
Psalm 91:5-6 describes four of the most common fears experienced by the human race. Terror by night; the arrow (bullets, too) that fly by day; disease that stalks in darkness; and destruction that lays waste at noon. And yet, to those of us who “dwell in the secret place of the Most High and who abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1), we have Someone to turn to when we face those fears.
Remember, He does not expect any of us to be fearless apart from Him…He knows none of us are Superman or Wonder Woman, even if we pretend to be. We simply put our trust in Him when we are afraid, knowing that He will never fail us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).
One more thing—His faithfulness is your shield and buckler (Psalm 91:4, last part). You may not have a whole lot of faith in your own faith, but that’s not all that necessary. Why not? Because it’s HIS faithfulness—to you and to His Word—that shields you. You merely need to trust that HE IS faithful, and that takes care of the faith factor. Your faith works because HE IS FAITHFUL, and when you put your trust in that fact, His faithfulness WILL be your shield and your buckler.
Thankful for the faithfulness of God!
Dorothy
© 2023, Dorothy Frick
Read MoreYou will not be afraid of pestilence that stalks in darkness
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
Words that seem nearly impossible to believe for some people precede a list of four truly haunting fears: “YOU WILL NOT BE AFRAID OF…”.
These fear-inducing four include:
- Terror by night
- The arrow that flies by day
- Pestilence that stalks in darkness
- Destruction that lays waste at noon
For about the last two and a half years, the world’s population has been held hostage by the fear of pestilence that stalks in darkness. Coronavirus. Covid-19. SARS CoV-2. The atmosphere was almost electric with dread anticipation in early March 2020 as we counted down to the soon-to-be-imposed shutdown of schools, churches, restaurants, stores, even parks and public beaches. We learned to make masks. We stopped socializing. We hunkered down in our homes, some of us all alone.
I don’t need to remind you of the hopeless feeling that every death count posted on the news brought to the souls of the listeners. Every sniffle, throat tickle, or stuffy nose brought a sense of panic to many.
We’ve lived through the pestilence that stalks in darkness; we are told by our medical “experts” that there is more to come. My purpose here is to direct you to the Bible statement, “YOU WILL NOT BE AFRAID…”
Fear is tricky. It can be a helpful instructor/informant—”Remember how touching that hot stove burned you last time? Yeah, let’s not do that again.” Or “I have an uneasy feeling about that party…think I’ll do something else.”
But fear that rides you and prevails over your thought-life and emotions like an evil taskmaster? That’s from Hell. When your heart races whenever you cough—or hear someone else coughing—fear is driving you. The Lord says, “YOU WILL NOT BE AFRAID OF pestilence that stalks in darkness.”
“But so many have died!” you may argue. Yes, they have. But the truth is that there are millions of ways that people depart this life. This sickness is but one of those ways, yet you have life right NOW, and you need to live it.
How do you live without fear in the face of disease, epidemics, and pandemics?
Two things have helped me. First, I learned as much as I could about ways to stay healthy in light of covid, and I practiced those things. I learned what might harm me in my quest to stay well, and I abandoned that. Fortunately, piles of information about the current diseases floating around are relatively easy to be found, as well as methods to remain healthy. You just need to know where to look.
Second—and most important—know what the Word of God reveals about sickness and disease. Both the Old and New Testaments are loaded with supernatural healings and they both shed light on God’s healing nature. During the early shutdown, as I suffered alone from an unusually bad asthma attack (made worse, I’m sure, due to the drummed-up fear of covid), peace came, and soon, easier breathing when I repeated Scriptures concerning the breath of Life the Lord breathed into my lungs. (See John 20:22, “He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” The Greek word for both breath and Spirit is “pneuma”, and I just repeated that to myself and thanked the Holy “Pneuma” for my “pneuma” flowing freely. Sounds funny, I know, but I was clinging to that “pneuma” from God…and was so glad to experience life-giving pneuma-air going into my lungs!)
A quick search online for healing Scriptures will provide you with enough ammunition to build your faith against the fear you might feel crawling up your neck or growing in the pit of your stomach. I am confident that in your search you will find one or two—or dozens—of verses that will ring true to your heart and will stir your hope and confidence. God’s power is stored inside those verses, and when united by your faith, they will produce peace, confidence, and ultimately, help and health.
I would be disobedient to God, though, if I didn’t mention the gorilla in the room—Death. I have found that the fear of death is a terrifying master, and unless that is conquered, you will never overcome the fear of sickness.
Hebrews 2:14-15 states, “Therefore, since the children [that’s you and me] share in flesh and blood, He Himself [that’s Jesus!] likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.“
Jesus died for us so we could live eternally. That means that when I die—whether by illness or injury or passing quietly in my sleep—I merely change locations! I’ll step out of my body at death and enter my new home, sort of like stepping out of clothes at the end of the day to enter my shower or bed. I never mourn stripping off those smelly clothes! I simply toss them in the clothes hamper. How much more will I be thrilled to step out of this body and enter into the new adventure ahead of me that was paid for in full by Jesus’ bold sacrificial death? Once the fear of death is tackled through your faith in Jesus and what He undertook for you, the fear of sickness becomes so much easier to overcome.
You will not be afraid of the pestilence that stalks in darkness.
Dorothy
Read MoreYou 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
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