By Leslie Kandt
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
“The Lord says, ‘If someone trusts me, I will save them. I will protect my followers who call to me for help.'” (Psalm 91:14) These words seem so simple, yet so deep and meaningful, right? It brings a sense of comfort and love to the individual reading; at least it did for me. With all the destruction and immoralities in this world, some of the best verses for believers to read and meditate on are Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16. In fact, the whole chapter can make one feel protected.
One’s personal safety, and the protection of one’s family, is valued greatly in this world, with good reason, of course. Nobody wants to go through struggles in their life. Nobody wants their parents to file for divorce. Nobody wants their loved one to become ill. Nobody wants their child to be bullied on the playground. Nobody wants to feel the heartbreak that comes with these every day battles.
Well, we don’t have to, right? I mean, according to Psalm 91, if we believe in God, nothing bad can happen. Right? We’ll just live our lives and God won’t let anything happen to bring us pain. It’s all good. Right?
Sadly, I believe that is not the case.
Nobody in this world has gone through their life without struggles. Ask anyone around you. I bet you can’t find a single person who hasn’t gone through pain in their life. Remember that girl in high school? She was super pretty, and super athletic? Her parents were super nice and super rich? She couldn’t have possibly gone through any real pain before. Or what about that man at work? Everyone knows him and he spends the whole work day talking and laughing? His son is graduating from medical school at the age of 19, and his daughter is a musical prodigy? He seems to get a raise every month, and your boss likes him better than you?
I’m sorry — No scratch that. I’m very happy to break it to you, but even they have to deal with troubles. Pain is a part of life.
So what does this mean? Does this mean that the Bible was wrong? Does this mean that we just don’t believe hard enough? Probably not.
It means that God has a plan. God knows what he is doing. He loves each and every one of us. Imagine the love that you have for your mom, your child, or maybe your spouse, whomever it is that you love the most. You would never want them to go through heartbreak, would you?
It seems crazy, but God loves us even more than that, more than we could imagine. He doesn’t want any harm to come to us. However, he has a plan. He knows that sometimes, we need to go through these struggles.
However, this chapter reassures us that we do not go through these struggles alone. If we let him, God will always work everything out for the best, not just to benefit him, but to benefit us as well. This chapter reassures us that God wouldn’t put us through a situation without giving us the ability to handle it.
So no. Our lives will never be just sunshine and happiness, but if we lean on God, we can forever be comforted knowing that we will be okay, even in the midst of the storms.