The Strange Providence of God

As we continue to look at Psalm 91, let’s go to the second stanza found in verses 3-13 where we find the Psalmist’s powerful sermon on trust. His point is simple—if you trust in God, you can find verses 1-2 to be true for you and here is how He does it.

In 3-6, we find the many ways God protects. In verse 3 and verses 5-6 there are two types of dangers—one is subtle, “He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler,” “the terror of the night,” but the other is obvious—“and from the deadly pestilence,” “arrows that fly by day,” and pestilence and destruction. The enemy attacks us from every angle, but God is able to protect us, and we can walk in confidence because we trust Him…He is able.

In verse 4 you find two ways God protects—like a bird covering her babies with her wings—this is close and personal. There are times God protects us simply by holding us near to Him, but other times He protects us with His faithfulness which is compared to a shield and buckler…this is nothing short of God’s armor.

A few years ago I read the biography of John Paton, the one who said he would just as soon as get eaten by cannibals as worms…he found himself barricaded in another couple’s home as a war like people were trying to kill them. They set fire to a part of the compound and waited for it to spread to the thatched roof of their house where they knew they would soon flee and then they would kill them. John left the house, and tore down the burning fence, and found himself surrounded—they were shouting, “kill him, kill him,” and John said, “Dare to strike me and my Jehovah God will punish you…” At that moment, they all heard a roaring sound rushing toward them…a tornado struck, swept the flames away from the house, and the rain soaked the house where it could not burn…Paton and the warriors stood in stunned silence and soon they ran away knowing God was fighting for them. That’s the protection of Almighty God.

And then he continues with examples of God’s protection. Verses 7-8 continue—a thousand may fall at your side, 10,000 at your right hand, but if God desires your to be protected the enemy will not come near you…you will see His protection and His judgment of the enemy. Verses 9-10 state it even more emphatically and then verses 11-13 tell us that if God so chooses, “He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands, they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.”

That’s the power and authority of God—should He choose to command His angels or should He choose to do it personally…nothing will stop the child of God from doing what God calls him or her to do. But, let’s stop for a moment…how do we justify these words with Hebrews 11 where God did mighty things, but some “suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword…?”

Psalm 91 isn’t a magic charm that promises God’s children will never suffer…Jesus said in Luke 21:16-19, “You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.” How can He say you will be put to death and not a hair of your head will perish? He is talking about death and ultimate death…He is talking about this life and the life to come.

Psalm 91 is simple—there is not one thing that will happen to you that God does not allow and if He allows it you can rest in the knowledge that He is going to use it for His glory and for your good. How can we explain the protection of John Paton and the death of Jim Elliot? The deliverance of one and the murder of another. Even on Paton’s island where he ministered, he was delivered while others were killed and even eaten.

The only explanation is the strange Providence of God. You can rest in this—you are immortal until God says otherwise. If you walk in God’s will and do what God calls you to do you will do so in His protection. In one case Paton was surrounded again by those seeking to take his life. He said the Lord gave him this assurance, as if a voice came from Heaven, “not a musket would be fired to wound us, not a club prevail to strike us, not a spear leave the hand in which it was held vibrating to be thrown, not an arrow leave the bow, or a killing stone the fingers, without the permission of Jesus Christ…”

There is a confidence that comes from knowing that. Paton buried his first wife and baby on that island…on another island he and his second wife buried two children…Judson buried wives and children and suffered in ways we cannot understand. Lottie Moon basically starved herself to death caring for the people. Elliot and four friends were murdered on a sand bar where they were attempting to bring the Gospel. And yet Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he could never lose.”

Is it worth it? Ask John Paton now, as he is in Heaven with not only those of his family he buried, but an entire Island who came to Christ…ask Elliot, ask Lottie, ask Judson and Carey…it was worth every drop of blood, every drop of sweat, and every tear. Why? Because to live is Christ but to die is gain…oh, that we would come to know that.