The Boogeyman

A Series from the Psalms
God is my… Protector
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Psalm 91

 [God is many things to many people. In this series, we will be looking at various Psalms that complete the statement “God is my…” Maybe ultimately this answers the question that we all ask at some point in our life, “Who is God to me?”.]

  

Movies love to make us afraid. Jaws made us afraid to swim in the ocean. Halloween made us afraid to “Trick or treat”. Airport made us afraid to fly. Stephen King made us afraid of clowns, and just about everything else.

 

Even without movies, everybody is afraid of something. When I was little, I was afraid of the dark. I was positive that somebody was hiding under my bed. At night, I would turn the light out and take a running jump into my bed so that he couldn’t get me. The Boogeyman!

 

Psalm 91 is filled with examples of things we are afraid of.

 

⁵ Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
    nor the arrow that flies in the day.
⁶ Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
    nor the disaster that strikes at midday.         NLT

 

In the movie Blind Side, Michael Orr was the left offensive tackle whose job was to protect the quarterback from being hit from his “blind side”. We all need someone like that in our life. Someone who has our back, is always with us and will protect us no matter what.

 

This psalm is also filled with promises of protection. Just! Like! That!

 

⁹ If you make the Lord your refuge,
    if you make the Most High your shelter,
¹⁰ no evil will conquer you;
    no plague will come near your home. NLT

 

To be honest, it almost sounds too good to be true. After all, we know that even Christians have bad things happen to them. But that doesn’t mean that the Lord isn’t with us; isn’t our Protector.

 

¹⁴ The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.
    I will protect those who trust in my name.
¹⁵ When they call on me, I will answer;
    I will be with them in trouble.
    I will rescue and honor them.               NLT

 These verses give us hope! They tell us that God is always with us even in trouble and that He is faithful to respond to us. I don’t know about you, but there’s no One better than that to protect me from the Boogeyman.

 

Copyright 2022 Joseph B Williams

 

 

A Force to be Reckoned With

God with you - A Series from the Psalms

Psalm 91

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2091&version=NIV;NLT

 

Patrick Mahomes is the 24 year old quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs who played in Super Bowl LIV. For the first 3 ½ quarters, the San Francisco 49ers defense dominated Mahomes and his high powered offense. Following his second interception, Mahomes was quoted to have said to a teammate, “You’ve got to believe brother. It’s going to happen man, I can feel it.”

 

When the Mahomes led offense returned to the field, they were down by 10 points with 6:13 left in the game. At that point, Mahomes willed his team to victory by scoring three touchdowns. Even in the face of desperate odds, Mahomes’ confidence proved to be a force to be reckoned with.

 

The author of Psalm 91 wrote of a confidence that is also a force to be reckoned with.

 

⁹ If you make the Lord your refuge,
    if you make the Most High your shelter,
¹⁰ no evil will conquer you;
    no plague will come near your home.

¹¹ For he will order his angels
    to protect you wherever you go.
¹² They will hold you up with their hands
    so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone. NLT

 

A refuge doesn’t have to be just a safe place. It can be the thing that you trust in the most when the chips are down. That could be your career; your family; your possessions; your achievements. The problem with human nature is that we try to make everything else other than the Lord Almighty our “refuge”.

 

You most likely will never win a Super Bowl, but you may find your refuge through the promises of God. And that refuge will give you the confidence to face trials and temptations.

 

¹⁴ The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.
    I will protect those who trust in my name.
¹⁵ When they call on me, I will answer;
    I will be with them in trouble.
    I will rescue and honor them.
¹⁶ I will reward them with a long life
    and give them my salvation.”               NLT

 

So the question that you need to ask yourself is, “Who, or what, is your refuge?”

 

² This I declare about the Lord:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
    he is my God, and I trust him.  NLT