Psalm 91 is believed to have been written by Moses during Israel’s journey through the wilderness. The wilderness presented many challenges and difficulties which were confusing and fearful.
God instructs Israel, “You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that strikes in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.” (Ps. 91:5-6) He confronts fears and confusion with the facts of God being our refuge (vs. 9), the ministry of angels (vs.11), and God’s commitment to answer our prayers. (vs.15).
We can choose to focus on our negative circumstances and the things that confuse us or we can choose to focus on the truth about God and what we’ve experienced of His goodness and faithfulness. It’s a deliberate choice. When my wife died of cancer, I was in total confusion. I was 42 years old and had two teen age daughters. I had no answers for my questions and I didn’t see how I could carry on. Fear and confusion overwhelmed me.
God said to me in my duress, “As long as you focus on what’s confusing you, you will always be in confusion. You need to focus on what you know to be true about me.” I made a deliberate choice to give to God all my confusion and to focus on what I knew to be true about God. That didn’t change my circumstances but it did change how I viewed them. I knew that even though I didn’t understand why things happened the way they did, I knew God loved me, I knew He is always faithful to His Word, I knew He is always committed to my growth and fruitfulness. I knew He would sustain me and show me the way to move forward in His strength.
When I made that deliberate choice to not allow fear and confusion to dominate my thinking and to fill my mind with what I knew to be true about God, only then was I able to move out of depression, and hopelessness into confidence in the goodness and faithfulness of God who would sustain me and see me through my loss.
Activity:
From this Psalm 91, list as many statements about God as you can find and any conditions attached to the promises that are make.