Psalm 91:3-4
"Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence.
He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler."
God provides for us comprehensive protection all in this one Psalm. We are protected from very kind of danger from every direction at every hour, night or day: 24/7/365, 360°. That's our God!
He delivers us from " the snare of the fowler." This is a bird trap, one of the the devil's many pathetic devices. All he can do is try to deceive, disguise, distract and misdirect in an effort to ensnare people by making sin look attractive.
For example he'll say: "Oh, it's ok to look up your horoscope." Or perhaps he whispers, "There's no harm in playing with a ouiju board really" Or..."Don't be afraid to go see that horror movie;" stupid stuff like that, trying to make dangerous or sinful pursuits appear harmless and inviting. He often trys to add his lying wonders into the mix; anything to steal, kill and destroy what God loves, namely US.
"...Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works." (II Corinthians 11:14-15 NKJV)
That old liar doesn't just come up to you and announce, "Hey, I'm the devil! Come worship me." Nope. He appears as an "angel of light." I seriously doubt that most people would follow him if they knew that's what they were doing, hence all the tactics, distraction and disguising danger so that it appears benign.
But our God gives us both discernment of protection from all such things. He likens us to birds. He says we need not fear the deceiver and his bird traps and shields us from anything that ol' liar tries to throw at us.
The fowler isn't going to snare those who have put their trust in Jesus. GOD HIMSELF PROTECTS US! Like a mother eagle, He covers us with His feathers. Under His wings we are completely safe.
We need to do likewise, Church, and look out for one another because, in general, we don't exactly have the best track record in this area. Down through history we have often been guilty of shooting our wounded--those caught the devil's snare. The last thing they need is more judgment heaped on them.
Don't you understand that they've already heaped a whole lot of that on themselves? They're under a crushing load of guilt! A drowning person does not need a swimming lesson or a lecture on staying away from the water. RIGHT NOW THEY NEED A SAVIOR!
But what happens all too often? We tell them "Oh, you fell into sin? Tisk, tisk. Shame, shame. You should have known better;" and they are written off as one less worry.
Remember when you were caught in one of his traps? It can happen to anyone; and I mean ANYONE, no matter what position you hold or how many theological degrees you have.
Let's help hurting people, not throw them away like so much garbage. This battle we are in is the fight to remain in faith. It isn't somewhere "up there" in the heavenlies and no, our fight is not against the devil directly. We are NO match for him. THAT IS JESUS' JOB. It's to fight the fight of faith.
The best way to do that is by making use of the word of God. Our enemy can only whisper lies, we shout at his EMPTY words THE WORD OF GOD.....just like Jesus did.
When our Lord Jesus Himself faced the devil in the wilderness He demonstrated just what we need to do. There He was; God in human flesh! He could have said or done anything He wanted because He is God. But what did He do? HE USED THE WORD OF GOD AGAINST HIM EVERY TIME.
"Surely He shall deliver us from the perilous pestilence."
These are open pestilences that affect multitudes of people like S.A.R.S., Ebola, incurable diseases like A.I.D.S., biological weapons of mass destruction, you name it.
His truth--His Word--is our SHIELD AND BUCKLER. We use it to defeat all the devil's devices: Every kind of sickness, every evil occurrence.
(Roman soldier's shield)
A shield covers our front like the kind Goliath had. It was big enough to hide behind like the shields carried by the Roman soldiers in the picture above.
(Buckler)
But a buckler is a small round shield used for close combat like that pictured above.
Big or small, near or far, whatever the disease or danger, we have our Daddy's word that He protects us from them or delivers us out of it if we're already in trouble.
We are safe in the secret place of the Most High. That's our God protecting His people 24/7/365 and from the snare of the fowler.
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