Psalm 91:1 & 2, 5-7, 9-11
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee…Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): It is very wonderful when men have lived near to God, and have received special faith to grasp such a promise as this, how they have outlived the most deadly pestilences. I collected sometime ago a little list of names of devout men who in the times of pestilence remained in the field to visit the sick and to attend to those who were dying, and it is marvelous that they outlived all, and their names stand now upon the catalogue of fame as benefactors of the race. They had special faith given, and they used that faith in trusting in God.
WOLFGANG MUSCULUS (1497-1563): Certainly such a confidence of mind could not be attributed to natural powers, in so menacing and so overwhelming a destruction. For it is natural to mortals, it is implanted in them by God the Author and Maker of nature, to fear whatever is hurtful and deadly, especially what visibly smites and suddenly destroys. Therefore does he beautifully join together these two things; the first, in saying, Thou shalt not be afraid; the second, by adding, for the terror. He acknowledges that this plague is terrible to nature; and then by his trust in divine protection he promises himself this security, that he shall not fear the evil, which would otherwise make human nature quail.
C. H. SPURGEON: Walls cannot keep out the pestilence, but the Lord can.
WILLIAM BRIDGE (1600-1670): What faith is this, what trust is that which God hath promised protection and deliverance to in the time of a plague?
C. H. SPURGEON: I have already said that I do not believe that this applies to all believers, for good men die as well as bad men in days of pestilence; but there are some who dwell near to God to whom the promise comes with special power, and they have been able to do and dare for God without fear, and their faith has been abundantly rewarded.
WILLIAM BRIDGE: There is a faith of persuasion, called faith, whereby men are persuaded and verily believe that they shall not die, nor fall by the hand of the plague. This is well; but I do not find in the 91st Psalm that this protection is entailed upon this persuasion, neither do I find this faith here mentioned. There is also a faith of reliance, whereby a man doth rely upon God for salvation; this is a justifying faith, true justifying faith; this is true faith indeed, but I do not find in this Psalm, that this promise of protection and deliverance in the time of a plague is entailed upon this, nor that this is here mentioned.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Those that preserve their purity in times of general corruption may trust God with their safety in times of general desolation.
C. H. SPURGEON: God does not give long life to all His people; yet in obedience to God is the most probable way of securing long life. There are also many of God’s saints who are spared in times of pestilence, or who are delivered by an act of faith out of great dangers.
WILLIAM BRIDGE: What act of faith is it? What faith is it?
C. H. SPURGEON: “I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress.” To take up a general truth and make it our own by personal faith is the highest wisdom. It is but poor comfort to say “the Lord is a refuge,” but to say He is my refuge, is the essence of consolation.
WILLIAM BRIDGE: I think this is the faith here spoken of in this 91st Psalm—I may call it a faith of recourse unto God—mark verse one, as if he should say, ‘When others run from the plague and pestilence and run to their hiding places, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High—that betakes himself to God as his hiding place and his habitation—he shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty, shall be protected;’ and so at verse nine, “Because thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge, even the Most High thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling;”—as if he should say, ‘In a time of plague men are running and looking out for habitations and hiding places; but because thou hast made the Lord thy habitation, and hast recourse to Him as thy habitation, no evil shall befall thee, neither shall the plague come nigh thy dwelling.’
JOHN WHITECROSS (circa 1831): Lord Craven lived in London when the plague raged. His Lordship, to avoid the danger, resolved to go to his house in the country. His coach was at the door, his baggage put up, and all things in readiness for the journey. As he was walking through his hall with his hat on, his cane under his arm, and about to step into his carriage, he overheard his negro servant saying to another servant, “I suppose, by my Lord’s quitting London to avoid the plague, that his God lives in the country, and not in town.” It struck Lord Craven very sensibly and made him pause. “My God,” thought he, “lives everywhere, and He can preserve me in town as well as in the country. I will stay where I am.” He continued in London, was remarkably useful among his sick neighbours, and never caught the infection.
WILLIAM BRIDGE: “He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways,”—in the ways of thy calling and place. Look! when a man in the time of a plague shall conscientiously keep his station and place, and betake himself to God as his habitation; this is the faith that is here spoken of, and this is the faith that God hath promised protection to in the 91st Psalm.
JEREMY BURROUGHS (1599-1647): David would not be afraid though he walked “in the valley of the shadow of death,” because God was with him, Psalm 23:4.
MATTHEW HENRY: No locks nor bars can shut out diseases, while we carry about with us in our bodies the seeds of them—if it take away the natural life, yet it shall be so far from doing any prejudice to the spiritual life that it shall be its perfection. A believer needs not fear, and therefore should not fear any arrow, because the point is off, the poison is out. O death! where is thy sting? It is also under divine direction, and will hit where God appoints and not otherwise. Every bullet has its commission. Whatever is done, our heavenly Father’s will is done; and we have no reason to be afraid of that.
ROWLAND HILL (1744-1833): Where you die—when you die—or by what means is scarcely worth a thought, if you do but die in Christ.
