The Lord does battle for you. You may experience difficulty, but never defeat.

Let me provide an illustration. A small child walks into a street with his head down. A woman jumps into the street to get the attention of a truck driver who is barreling his way. The driver hits the brakes and swerves to avoid the child.

None the wiser, the child walks down the street in the direction of a man who is yelling lies about who to trust and who to believe; he’s a firebrand who preys particularly on impressionable young minds. A neighbour distracts the firebrand, allowing the boy to pass by unintimidated.

All along the child thought he was on his own. But out of sight, and beyond his knowing, he was being protected and cared for.

So it is with us.

Psalm 91 is known as a psalm of protection. Despite what some may say, it’s not a guarantee that you will never experience hardship. We know this because of verse 15: “He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble…” If we never went through trouble, God would not have promised to be with us when it happened!

The fact of the matter is that the Lord does battle for you. You don’t always see it, but he does. He is intervening, advocating, protecting and guiding. One of our flaws as humans is that we rely too heavily on our eyes. Since we can’t physically see everything that is going on in the spiritual realm, we can downplay it’s significance, and we can downplay the ways the Lord is at work.

Like taxes and turning seasons, trouble comes. But there isn’t only trouble. Our heavenly Father is a warrior King who is on the march, even when it looks like things aren’t working out. As William Gurnall says: “Our Savior never lost a battle, not even when He lost his life.”*

The Lord does battle for you. You may experience difficulty, but never defeat.

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Notes:

–“The end of the world: A helpful book to navigate biblical teachings.” This is a new 6-minute podcast (and video) I put together which highlights a book by one of my former professors, Dr. Brian Irwin. It’s published by Lexham Press and is called “After Dispensationalism: Reading the Bible for the End of the World.” Click here or look it up on ‘The Pulse Podcast with Matthew Ruttan’ wherever you subscribe to podcasts.

–“The Lord does battle for you.” Sermon for June 11, 2023. Click here. 

–*William Gurnall, ed. James S. Bell Jr., The Christian in Complete Armour (Chicago: Moody Press, 1984), entry for Jan 2.

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.