Psalm 91
“The Protector(s)”
July 5, 2020
Sometimes safety is a matter of perspective. The one story I distinctly remember hearing about from our daughter Selene’s experience of her Driver’s Education course at Arlington High School is that if there was a choice about whether to hit an animal or swerve into either on-coming traffic or some obstacle like a tree or a guard rail, there were only two animals that were worth swerving for. The only two creatures worth avoiding hitting if you were faced with that kind of split-second decision to make were a moose and a bear. To reinforce that message, Tim Williams, her instructor, showed them pictures of a car that had collided with a moose and the whole roof of the car was sheared off from the impact with that huge animal. And I thought my Driver’s Ed class was scary when our instructor had us practicing on the Northway!
Worst case scenarios have been a regular part of the daily media coverage on the Coronavirus for the last 4 months. Scientists are called upon to make educated guesses about how much worse it might get and how long it will be with us. We regularly witness medical professionals donning personal protective equipment that makes them appear prepared for a nuclear disaster so as to stay safe while swabbing the nose of someone driving up for a COVID-19 screening test. Such news coverage also has the power to reinforce the idea that as bad as this has been, we are all, globally, in this together. And that your safety is tied to mine.
Here in this beloved Psalm 91, we have the worst-case scenarios laid out in front of us: war, conflict, plague, natural disaster, dangerous animals, and poisonous snakes. Not a lot has changed since this was composed, Jewish midrash tells us, by Moses on the day he finished constructing the Tabernacle in the desert. Part of this Psalm is repeated by the Devil when he tempts Jesus in the desert. This Psalm reflects the writer’s belief in a God who keeps him safe and protected. His sense of security comes from God.
Have you ever felt that you wanted to pray but couldn’t find the words? Something was so big or troubling that just wrapping your head around the feelings and offering them up to God alone who silently seemed beyond your grasp? We can take comfort from the Psalter which is, after all, a book of prayers treasured by so many different traditions. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition practiced by the Nuns of New Skete, of cheesecake fame, they pray through all of the Psalms each month. In Judaism, this particular Psalm is so important that it is recited 7 different times during Jewish burial ceremonies.
Psalm 91 reckons with the worst we can encounter and lifts up the God who will not abandon us when the going gets tough. This is sometimes referred to as the Soldier’s Psalm or the Soldier’s Prayer. A mother of two sons who served in Afghanistan, Mary Gray, was so reliant on this as her daily prayer while her sons were in harm’s way halfway around the world that she had camouflage bandanas imprinted with Psalm 91 and has sent over 160,000 to men and women serving overseas in the last 15 years.
Throughout history this 91st Psalm has been put on small pieces of jewelry and worn as a reminder of the ever-present and never-abandoning nature of God regardless of evil, danger, or disease. Such knowledge is what we need to carry with us now, more than ever, when the simple act of breathing in the presence of others can strike fear in the hearts of calm and rational people like you and me.
In this Psalm we travel from a description of the kind of care and protection offered by God to the ending of it with God speaking words that validate what the Psalmist has said.
God’s protection does not mean we won’t have trouble or pain. It’s not that we won’t suffer but rather that those troubles won’t have the last word and they don’t define who we are.
Here God is promising deliverance, protection, answers, presence, honor and salvation and there are no prerequisites for this. We do not have to earn any of this. It is called grace and we need only accept it with the same abundance of love that God provides.
Nan C. Merrill has leaned into the spirit of the Psalms as prayer and so let us pray with her words of Psalm 91:
Those who dwell in the shelter of
Infinite Light,
Who abide in the wings of
Infinite Love,
Will raise their voices in praise:
“My refuge and my strength;
in You alone will I trust.”
For You deliver me from the webs
of fear and illusion,
from all that separates and divides;
You protect me as an eagle shields
its young,
Your faithfulness is sure, like
an arrow set upon the mark.
I will not fear the shadows of the night,
nor the confusion that comes
by day,
Nor the dreams that awaken me from
sleep,
nor the daily changes that
life brings.
Though a thousand may deride this
radical trust,
ten thousand laugh as I seek
to do your Will,
Yet will I surrender myself to You,
abandoning myself into your Hands
without reserve.
For You have sent your angels to
watch over me,
to guide me in all my ways.
On their hands, they will bear me up,
lest I dash my foot against
a stone.
Though I walk among those who
roar like a lion,
or are as stealthy as the adder,
in your strength will I endure.
“Because you cleave to Me in love,
I will deliver you;
I will protect you, who
call upon my Name.
When you call to Me, I will answer you;
I will be with you in times
of trouble,
I will rescue you so that
you will know my Peace,
All through the years, will I dwell
in your heart,
as Loving Companion Presence,
forever.”*
Amen.
*Psalms for Praying: An Invit