“THOU SHALT NOT BE AFRAID.”
By T.
“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.” The ninety-first Psalm, from which the foregoing words are taken, is simply one great promise. It is a promise, too, for these very times in which we live. In these closing days of earth’s history, Satan is working his terrors on every hand. Pestilence and destruction will be spreading their ruin everywhere. And right in the very midst of it the Christian is called to stand as an ambassador for his Lord. But will not the follower of Christ be afraid under those circumstances? Will not the destruction that spreads ruin all around him fill his very soul with terrors indescribable?—Oh, no! Listen to the promise of our Master, “Thou shalt not be afraid.” Please do not read this most precious promise as though it said, “Thou oughtest not to be afraid,” or, “Now don’t get scared,” or, “Try to keep up your courage.” No indeed! Our Father’s promises do not come to us in any such language. We are told plainly, positively, tenderly, and assuredly7“Thou shalt not be afraid.” O, blessed assurance! Our heavenly Father takes us into His confidence by disclosing to us the things of the future. He tells us that “in the last days perilous times shall come.” 2 Tim. 3:1. That “as it was in the days of Noah,” when “the earth was filled with violence,” “so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.” Compare Luke 17:26 and Gen. 6:5, 11–13. The Lord further informs us that there shall be “upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.” Luke 21:25, 26. But while telling the world of these terrible things that Satan will stir up at the close of time to fill the soul with terrors, and while we are informed that men’s hearts will be failing them for fear because of the things which are coming on the earth, our Lord also in language of commanding confidence gives His own assurance that “thou shalt not be afraid.” How tender is our divine Master! He knew that when the time is reached in those last days of peril, when the elements will be raging, when abandoned men will fill the earth with violence, the tendency will be for us to sink beneath the terrors of the time. And so He tells us that “He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all Thy ways” (Ps. 91:11), and assuredly we “shall not be afraid.” How good, how strong, yes, how divinely sublime, are these assuring promises! The Father foresees the danger, and so “His angels, that excel in strength” (Ps. 103:20), are given charge over thee. Is it any marvel, then, that this promise should develop into the grandeur of a prophecy, by foretelling to us that even amid these last-day perils the child of God “shall not be afraid”? In this time of the world’s greatest danger, God needs men and women whose sensibilities are not paralyzed by fear. As the dangers of our times thicken around us, the heart that is made strong by a daily communion with the infinite Father will be needed as a towering beacon to safely point the lost to the Rock of refuge. The follower of Jesus reads the promise that “He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” And, knowing that this promise from a tender Father is a divinely certain reality, all fear is driven from his mind, and his entire nature is absorbed in the great work that is pressing upon his Redeemer’s heart, that is, to rescue the perishing. Viewed in the light of the days in which we live, what great opportunities are opened before those who will receive the world’s Redeemer as their own! Not only may we thus be saved ourselves, but immediately do we become the strong-hearted channels through which the Master entreats others to come into the shelter from the rising storm. For in that secure haven it is said of every dweller, “Thou shalt not be afraid.” And the beauties and strength of this divinely provided haven seem so much more wonderful and desirable when we take into account that it is not hidden in a quiet nook of some sheltered bay or placid inlet that such security is provided, but out in the very midst of the ocean of destructive elements that will furiously rage all about us in these last days, there the ambassador for God rides secure. “A thousand” are falling at his side, and “ten thousand” at his right hand, but the never-failing decree has already been given that “it shall not come nigh” him. Ps. 91:7. The perils of the last days are already drawing in sight. Social distress and evils of such magnitude and complexity as were never known before, are increasing all about us; storm and pestilence, earthquake and tidal wave, are convincing the inhabitants of earth that this is no longer a secure abode. Then accept the refuge provided by the hand of infinite love, and know from the experience given by the indwelling Saviour that “thou shalt not be afraid.”