Last week's blog was an encouragement to "Shelter-in-Palace" and not just "shelter-in-place." The reminder in Psalm 91 is to make God our place of refuge and safety. In doing so, there is a move of God to deliver His people, even from diseases. Do we see this in history? Yes! Here are three examples where Psalm 91 has encouraged believers. Note how their faith and protection led them to love on their community:
Charles Spurgeon
"In the year 1854, when I had scarcely been in London twelve months, the neighbourhood in which I laboured was visited by Asiatic cholera, and my congregation suffered from its inroads. Family after family summoned me to the bedside of the smitten, and almost every day I was called to visit the grave. I gave myself up with youthful ardour to the visitation of the sick, and was sent for from all corners of the district by persons of all ranks and religions. I became weary in body and sick at heart. My friends seemed falling one by one, and I felt or fancied that I was sickening like those around me. A little more work and weeping would have laid me low among the rest; I felt that my burden was heavier than I could bear, and I was ready to sink under it. As God would have it, I was returning mournfully home from a funeral, when my curiosity led me to read a paper which was wafered up in a shoemaker’s window in the Dover Road. It did not look like a trade announcement, nor was it, for it bore in a good bold handwriting these words:‘Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.’ The effect upon my heart was immediate. Faith appropriated the passage as her own. I felt secure, refreshed, girt with immortality. I went on with my visitation of the dying in a calm and peaceful spirit; I felt no fear of evil, and I suffered no harm. The providence which moved the tradesman to place those verses in his window I gratefully acknowledge, and in the remembrance of its marvellous power I adore the Lord my God." (Review of Reviews, 1892).
Craven
"Lord Craven, a Christian, was a nobleman who was living in London when plague ravaged the city in the fifteenth century. In order to escape the spreading pestilence Craven determined to leave the city for his country home, as many of his social standing did. He ordered his coach and baggage made ready. But as he was walking down one of the halls of his home about to enter his carriage, he overheard one of his servants say to another, ‘I suppose by my lord’s quitting London to avoid the plague that his God lives in the country and not in town.’ It was a straightforward and apparently innocent remark. But it struck Lord Craven so deeply that he canceled his journey, saying, ‘My God lives everywhere and can preserve me in town as well as in the country. I will stay where I am.’ So he stayed in London. He helped the plague victims, and he did not catch the disease himself." –James Montgomery Boice (Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, vol. 2b)
Martin Luther
Not to be mistaken with Martin Luther King Jr. If you are not familiar with him, he's the father of the Reformation-- the start of Protestantism. He's one of the notable people in history who broke us away from Catholicism.
The Black Death (Black Plague/Bubonic Plague) was devastating Europe. While everyone was fleeing, Luther and his pregnant wife, Katharina, remained to care for the sick. I shamefully admit that I don't know if my faith is that great to jeopardize my wife and child. Where did he get his faith? Luther quotes Matthew 25:41-46, the passage I preached on this past Sunday:
"We must respect the word of Christ, “I was sick and you did not visit me.” According to this passage we are bound to each other in such a way that no one may forsake the other in his distress but is obliged to assist and help him as he himself would like to be helped."
"We must respect the word of Christ, “I was sick and you did not visit me.” According to this passage we are bound to each other in such a way that no one may forsake the other in his distress but is obliged to assist and help him as he himself would like to be helped."
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There are many, many more examples in history where the church fearlessly served their community because they had a strong grasp of Psalm 91. They lived and breathed in the shelter of the Almighty and were repeatedly delivered. Want more examples? Here's another few.
May we be ever bold and in bringing the Gospel of Christ to a scared, sick, and dying world.
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JESUS
Those are great examples, but what about Jesus? Do we see Psalm 91 played out in the life of Christ? Hm....
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