I have a hard enough time as a believer making sense of The Word.
I was reading Psalm 91 tonight and wondered what someone (who had never read the Bible) would think when they read verses 9-10 which says, "Because you have made the LORD - my refuge, the Most High - your dwelling place, no harm will come to you; no plague will come near your tent".
We all know and so does the non-believer that harm does come to our "tent" sometimes. How does someone make sense of this and perceive it as truth?
I would love to hear your thoughts and personal commentaries on this.
Greetings and welcome to our discussion group. We have people holding very different views of scripture, Calvinists, Arminians, and those of us disagreeing with both sides of the spectrum.
I expect someone presented the Calvinist answer, all fallen people are unable to understand all spiritual things, thus only those altered by Irresistible Grace can gain spiritual insight from studying the Bible.
And, I expect, someone else presented the Arminian answer, all fallen people are unable to understand all spiritual things, but God has provided "prevenient grace" to all men so they can understand spiritual things.
A third view, definitely a minority view, thinks the Bible teaches fallen men have limited spiritual ability and therefore can understand the spiritual milk, but not spiritual meat.
So if we turn now to Psalm 91, lets consider what it says, as if we can understand the fundamental truths of scripture.
Our first question is does God protect us from pain, suffering, and death in this life, or is the promise that His salvation applies to our life after (1) we physically die, or (2) after Christ returns?
If we are expecting not to suffer, we have not read where we should be honored to share in the suffering of Christ.
So at first glance, lets say the surpassing riches of God's inheritance reserved for us, makes small potatoes of the travails of this life.
Now, by studying God's word, and following His path of righteousness, we avoid snares of this world. Recall our daily prayer, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
So, as in tennis, we should minimize our "unforced errors" but we cannot eliminate them, nor should we think God will prevent us from making mistakes that bring hardship upon us and upon those we love.
When God says "no harm will overtake us" or "no illness will come near our home" clearly we need to understand this as referring to our abode in heaven.
As a general rule, we should always ask, "What is the least God is saying." Thus we do not add our speculation to God's word.
Thus by following God's path of righteousness we will avoid some of the pitfalls of this life, i.e. trample a lion or snake, but to read into this we will never fall prey to Satan, the World, or our Fleshly desires would be an overreach.
As has been demonstrated by our Christian siblings as they near physical death, the refuge of the Lord is found in their faith in the blessings to come in a place without tears.
God Bless
