Refuge and Deliverer, a Reflection on Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16

.... the promise that God makes, "I will deliver those who love me, protect those who know me," should not be read to mean that "Those who aren't delivered and protected deserve not to be."

Yet, I can pray quite honestly the opening verses. I do experience God as a refuge and a fortress. I do trust God.

Here's my compromise (I don't like that word, but I can't come up with the term that better expresses my thoughts): Verse 15 is an assertion that I can agree with. I can depend on God to be present with me whenever I am in trouble. That presence is in itself rescue--I am not suffering alone, and I am not suffering without possibility of salvation.

Reading  the psalm in response to the passage from Jeremiah when he's speaking to a people who did not follow God's ordinances and are being threatened by a powerful army. Jeremiah tells them what he has heard from the Lord, that, even in the face of disruption and loss, they are to look toward a future.

We moderns can pray this psalm as we face our own disruptions and losses. And, in praying it, we can remind ourselves of just who is in charge of our rescue, our honor, and our salvation,