God Protects His People
Yesterday we looked at verse 10 of Psalm 97, which says: “Let those who love the Lord hate evil.” And the verse continues like this: “For He guards the lives of His faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.” (Psalm 97:10)
Now I wonder if you truly believe this. Because I’ve known many good Christian people, genuine believers, who died tragic deaths at the hands of wicked people, or whose lives ended shortly because of sickness or some other tragedy.
I read a verse like this and say to myself, “does God do this? Does He guard our lives and deliver us? I don’t know if He does.”
Protected in a Deeper Way
But let’s go to Matthew 10 to get a bit of a different perspective from the lips of Jesus. He said this: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)
He often said things like this. “Don’t be afraid of people who can hurt you, because nobody can take away your relationship with God and your faith, if you stand firm.”
So perhaps this verse in the Psalms needs to be read with a different perspective. Perhaps as we look at it, we need to recognise that it’s not so much God protecting us from harm on this earth - because people can kill our bodies and sickness and disease can ravage our bodies - but the only One who can destroy our souls is the righteous God, if we have turned away from Him and refused His offer of forgiveness. But if we have faith in Him, then even if harm comes our way, our souls are safe in His hands.
Faith That Looks Beyond This Life
Where is your faith today? Is your faith in this earth? Is your faith in the physical things of this world? Would you agree because of your faith, that death is not the supreme tragedy for Christians, but to die and be with Christ is actually a blessing, in a sense, an eternal blessing?
I believe this verse is absolutely right. God guards our lives eternally, and He delivers us from the hand of the wicked one eternally.
I pray that the pain and difficulties you face in this life won’t make you turn from God, that you’ll stand firm in your faith. And because of that faith that you have, one day God will finally deliver you from this wicked world into His glorious heaven, as He has promised.
While we eagerly await heaven's fullness, God's kingdom is already breaking into our world through our lives and communities.