(1) He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. (2) I will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!" (3) For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper And from the deadly pestilence. (4) He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark. (5) You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day; (6) Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. (7) A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, [But] it shall not approach you. [Psa 91:1-7 NASB]

Last night, right before I went to bed, my mind was drawn to Psalm 91. Frankly, I had forgotten about the part that speaks of "the pestilence" in this chapter. The original Hebrew word is Dever and it means a destructive plague. As I read, I thought, how applicable to our times. Our country has not seen anything like this since 1918 and of course, that was a totally different time. Sadly, many today are absolutely paralyzed by fear.

In a time when the Coronavirus can intimidate like a giant, we, as believers, must put our focus on God and His faithfulness to us. Many people today act as if they have a post-graduate degree from the "University of Anxiety." This should not be for the believer. Yes, it is human and natural to be struck with a moment of fear. However, a refocus on God's Word and His promises, such as Psalm 91, should delivers us to the shore of peace and comfort.

The Psalmist's mind (David) probably hearkens back to II Samuel 24 in which God brought a deadly pestilence killing 70,000 people and yet, even in that moment David knew that God was the sovereign one who controlled even the deadly pestilence.

The Psalmist here expresses the great confidence he has in the security that comes from dwelling in the shadow of the Almighty (i.e. walking close with God in faith). Just like a bird takes refuge under the wings of its parents, the believer who lives under the cover of God's grace finds safety. In fact, in verse 5, it states that God covers His own with His faithfulness. That is an interesting word picture.

Let's keep it real. Our biggest fear is that of death. However, divine viewpoint would take us back to Psalm 139 in which we are assured as we read "the days that were ordained for me." What does that mean to each of us? It means that every heartbeat we have and every breath we take are ordained by God. It means that we are not going to leave this earth until He says it is over. For the believer, God still writes the last chapter...not Coronavirus or anything else. Does that mean that we can be careless? No, we all should take all the precautions that we are instructed to do during this time. Some more than others. However, we should not be marginalized by fear. When Joshua was momentarily tempted to fear, God spoke to him and said, Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

For the believer, this is a wonderful time to grow in our faith and to demonstrate our faith to others. Yesterday in our church's prayer email, I shared the words of Martin Luther, the champion of the Reformation back in the 1500s. Luther was dealing with The Black Death plague when he wrote these words. They are as applicable today as they were then. Since not all who receive this email receives our prayer list, allow me to share it again.

"I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me however I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely as stated above. See this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God."

Here is what Mark Sasscer, our Missions Council chairman, wrote after reading this quote.

"Besides the big 5, we who are God's bride have an ideal opportunity to serve our communities during this time of difficulty...like Martin Luther talked about in his quote. We must be prepared in our own homes to survive, but we must not hoard; instead we must be generous to those in need of what we might have. We must protect ourselves and our family members, but we must make ourselves available to serve those in need, even when risk is involved. These are times like we have never seen in our lifetimes, so many of our paradigms will suffer. However, our faith and convictions must not suffer."