Brave? Not really.

I have had family and friends comment on how brave it was of me to fly to the U.S. to see my family. They may have meant foolhardy, but they said brave. I don't feel it was brave of me at all, because I had no fear. I have been standing on God's promises in Psalm 91 throughout this pandemic and will continue to do so.

Verse 1: "He (or, in my case, she) who dwells in the secret place of the Most High..." The word "dwells" here is "yashab" in the Hebrew which literally means "to sit in, or sit still." My position in Christ is that I am seated at the right hand of the Father in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). So, simply because I am in Christ, I am seated in the secret place of the Most High, and I "shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Picture that, being in the shadow of the Almighty. How much more secure could we be?

Verse 2: "I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust." Our words have a lot of power in our lives. It is important to say what God says. Not what the media or even the finest medical minds say, but what God says. They are reporting on facts as they see them, but God sees from a higher perspective.

Verse 3: "Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence." If that's not a promise, how much more definite could He make it? "Surely" and "shall" are pretty strong words.

Verse 4: "He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge." Wonderful picture of safety and security.

Verses 5,6:  "You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday." That about covers it!

Verses 7,8: "A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look and see the reward of the wicked." I claimed verse 7 during my chemo treatments, that even if 11.000 people have major side effects from chemo, I wasn't going to. And I didn't. (In verse 8, I'm not suggesting that only the "wicked" will get the corona virus. Disease isn't selective. There is, though, the story in Numbers 13 of the 10 spies who returned from scouting out the land that God had promised He was giving them. They came back and said, "Oh, yes, God was right about it's being a land of milk and honey BUT we can never take it. Its inhabitants are too powerful for us." They believed what their eyes told them, and so discounted what God had promised over and over. The King James Bible says that was an "evil report".  (So I might suggest that not agreeing with God's promises could be considered "wicked".  It is certainly arrogant.)

Verses 9-12: "Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone." There we have us "dwelling" with Him again, as in verse 1.  And I like to say, He gives His angels specific charge concerning me to keep and protect me in all ways.

Verse 13: "You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra. The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot." This lines up with what Jesus said to His followers in Luke 10:19: "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means harm you." That's a huge promise. We might be tempted like the 10 spies to discount this promise because we haven't seen it in our experience. But we must never exalt our experiences over the Word of God. (Ever notice that the devil when He was tempting Jesus quoted from Psalm 91 but stopped just before this verse?)

Verses 14-16: I'm going to personalize this, so it's not quoted exactly as written. "Because I have set my love upon Him, therefore He will deliver me; He will set me on high, because I have known His name; I shall call upon Him, and He will answer me; He will be with me in trouble; He will rescue me and honor me. With long lifeHe will satisfy me, and show me His salvation."

That is what I call my Psalm 91 immunity. So I can travel without concern. When you see me wearing a mask in public, it is not for my protection. It is for the peace of mind for all the people I meet who are afraid. Neither brave, nor foolhardy, I believe. Just resting in my Psalm 91 promises.