Devotional
Psalm 91:5
25/02/11 10:11
You will not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day.
I love the fact that this verse directly addresses the night. The night season can be a time of intense spiritual activity. If the children are sick, they always seem worse at night. If you are going through a hard time, your mind seems to be a minefield, particularly at night. I remember one of our children having an ear infection and he cried all night long. The problem was the next day he was fine and we were wrecked.
What is it about the night? The simplest answer is ‘darkness’. The enemy works in the dark. The adversary is scheming, plotting and seeking whom he may devour and a ‘sudden alarming attack’ is what will best bring about his desired results. It is interesting that in our days we have terrorist attacks on innocent people. These are planned so that they bring about fear and destruction. It is the same with the enemy - he wants to bring about a sudden surprise attack so that fear will grip our being.
When would we be most vulnerable? When we are resting, sleeping. But this psalm says we don’t have to fear the terror of the night – that we have protection from the scary dreams and visitations in the night. You see our Lord never slumbers nor sleeps – he is always watching over you to keep you from all evil. You are covered with the blood of Jesus Christ. Interestingly before the children of Israel left Egypt the angel of death struck down the first-born sons of the Egyptians but the Israelites were safe if they applied the blood of a lamb on the doorposts. The destruction or the terror of that night could not harm them so they had nothing to fear. And so it is with us as we apprehend the blood of Jesus for our household and ourselves we will not fear the terror of the night.
The arrow that flies by day speaks into that which ‘pierces’. The arrows that pierce our hearts the most are the words that are spoken to or over us. The old saying of “sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me” was most likely made up by someone who encountered the piercing of words. Words do hurt! They have the ability to touch the heart and soul in a way that could plague a person for life. Your words have the power to bring life or death.
Why do they fly by day? Because that is when you are most likely to encounter people! Regardless, we will not fear for in Christ we have the freedom to forgive and break the power of piercing words. They may be flying at us but they cannot poison us, therefore we will not fear.
I love the fact that this verse directly addresses the night. The night season can be a time of intense spiritual activity. If the children are sick, they always seem worse at night. If you are going through a hard time, your mind seems to be a minefield, particularly at night. I remember one of our children having an ear infection and he cried all night long. The problem was the next day he was fine and we were wrecked.
What is it about the night? The simplest answer is ‘darkness’. The enemy works in the dark. The adversary is scheming, plotting and seeking whom he may devour and a ‘sudden alarming attack’ is what will best bring about his desired results. It is interesting that in our days we have terrorist attacks on innocent people. These are planned so that they bring about fear and destruction. It is the same with the enemy - he wants to bring about a sudden surprise attack so that fear will grip our being.
When would we be most vulnerable? When we are resting, sleeping. But this psalm says we don’t have to fear the terror of the night – that we have protection from the scary dreams and visitations in the night. You see our Lord never slumbers nor sleeps – he is always watching over you to keep you from all evil. You are covered with the blood of Jesus Christ. Interestingly before the children of Israel left Egypt the angel of death struck down the first-born sons of the Egyptians but the Israelites were safe if they applied the blood of a lamb on the doorposts. The destruction or the terror of that night could not harm them so they had nothing to fear. And so it is with us as we apprehend the blood of Jesus for our household and ourselves we will not fear the terror of the night.
The arrow that flies by day speaks into that which ‘pierces’. The arrows that pierce our hearts the most are the words that are spoken to or over us. The old saying of “sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me” was most likely made up by someone who encountered the piercing of words. Words do hurt! They have the ability to touch the heart and soul in a way that could plague a person for life. Your words have the power to bring life or death.
Why do they fly by day? Because that is when you are most likely to encounter people! Regardless, we will not fear for in Christ we have the freedom to forgive and break the power of piercing words. They may be flying at us but they cannot poison us, therefore we will not fear.