4. My Refuge and My Fortress
You will not fear the terror of the night, the arrow that flies by day, the plague that stalks in darkness, or the pestilence that ravages at noon.
Though a thousand fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, the pestilence will not reach you.
Psalm 91: 5-7
I’m not gonna lie to you. The other night, when I read that there is a very strong likelihood that this pandemic will become endemic (meaning it will always be with us, come and go, like the common cold, but way more destructive) I cried. I had a good, built up, “this isn’t fair” cry. I wonder about my kids’ futures. I think of all the people who aren’t going to make it through this. About the jobs being lost and the futures being destroyed and I just feel like hope is a long way off.
Did you know that the definition of the word pestilence is “a fatal epidemic disease”? Sound familiar? Now, we can read Psalm 91 and think “sweet! I’m safe! I never have to wash my hands again!” but we would be missing the point. Verse 2 refers to God as “my refuge and my fortress” the one we can trust. The way I think we need to look at these verses is what we are being asked to do: do not fear.
The world can literally be falling apart around us but nothing, not nothing, can touch us. And I don’t mean in a physical sense. Because people have and will continue to die from this. Good people. People who love God and trust Him and read all these verses too. But the difference for the believer is that Jesus already conquered Covid-19. This pestilence cannot touch the future that God has for you. Even if you (me, all of us) die God is still King. God still reigns on high and is sovereign. He is pulling you to Himself because He loves you. Because He already won this war. When Jesus died on the cross He made it so that we never truly die. He made it so the scary, nasty things of this world, though difficult to deal with when we are here, don’t get the last word. We get to hope in the future of a new earth where there are no more tears, fear, disease, or death. A future where our saviour, the one who took one look at you and thought you were worth dying for wipes away every tear from your eye with the hand that bears the scars of this broken world.
You can walk without fear in the face of Covid-19. Not because it will never physically touch you. But because your life is already safe and sound in the Father’s house. And whenever and however we get there, He has an even greater future than we could ever imagine here on this earth.
Praise the Father, Praise the Son, Praise the Spirit Three in One.
