The 911 Psalm.

TV preachers love to shout lines from Psalm 91:

“Though a thousand fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, the pestilence shall not reach you”—DID YOU HEAR THAT, BROTHERS AND SISTERS?— “the pestilence shall not reach you!” Psalm 91:7.

They will apply this verse to anything—cancer, heart attacks, etc.,—and they scream “IT SHALL NOT REACH YOU!”  When I hear that, I always ask ‘how do you know’?  And I don’t lack faith. FAITH is one of my gifts.  I never have doubts about God.  But I do have doubts when a preacher tries to convince me I will never get sick. After all, God said Adam’s race would die—and we all do, even preachers.

So is Psalm 91:7 false? No.  But there is a better way to interpret it.   

Now it is POSSIBLE God will give you a verse like this as a promise for a certain situation.  But in such a case, you need to hear the voice of God in your heart providing CONFIRMATION.  You can’t just read a verse and decide it has some meaning for your circumstances today.  But if while you read, the Holy Spirit tells you the promise is for you, THEN you can stand on that.

Something tells me Marcus Lamb probably quoted Psalm 91 when he preached against COVID vaccines.  And he died of COVID.  If he claimed verse 7 meant the pestilence of COVID would not touch him, he interpreted the scripture wrongly. You know who else interpreted Psalm 91 wrongly?  Satan!  He tempted Jesus with verses 11-12: “He will give his angels charge over you, lest you strike your foot against a stone.”  Jesus rebuked the devil for twisting the scripture.

Psalm 91 is called the “911 Psalm” to remind you to go to it with emergencies.  Do that!  It is full of truth and hope and powerful words to pray and claim for any situation.  But God still holds us responsible to interpret scripture as honestly and accurately as we can.

ΑΩ