Psalm 34:7, “The Angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him,
and delivers them.”
THE PSALM 34 CHALLENGE – Day 7
You can join on any day – and memorize the Psalm at your own pace.
Today we add verse 7.
Psalm 34:7 “The Angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.”
Consider this: David had nowhere to lay his head – no place to call home. He was fleeing for his life. Maybe he pitched a tent, but it’s more likely that he slept in open fields or a cave. Yet he had complete confidence that the Angel of the LORD – the Lord Jesus Christ Himself –was protecting him on every side and from all assaults. This military imagery illustrates God’s protection of His people.
By faith, we believe that God protects us. Many Biblical accounts underscore this truth. Remember God’s protection and deliverance of Elisha in 2 Kings 6:1-18 (especially verses 16-17); of Daniel in the lion’s den in Daniel 6:1-28 (especially verse 22); and of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in Daniel 3:1-30 (especially verses 24-25, 28). They all endured a trial, but the Lord protected them and delivered them.
No one can get through God’s line of defense around any believer without His permission. Even Satan himself cannot touch a hair of our head unless the Lord allows it. And every trial that He does permit is limited and our trials never change the fact that nothing shall ever “be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31-39). Satan complained to the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side?” (Job 1:9-10). God did permit Satan to attack Job but limited each attack. I don’t have space to explain all 42 chapters of Job here, but there is one truth about this story that we cannot miss and it’s found in James 5:11: “Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord – that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.”
What does it mean to fear the LORD? It means to show Him the honor, respect, reverence, and awe that is rightly His. He is God! When we fear the LORD, we have nothing and no-one else to fear for He says, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). If you fear the LORD, this verse is for you!
Let me share a few stories about the Lord’s protection in our lives. When we lived in our first home, one night a burglar kicked in our front door and “for some reason” fled into the night without taking a thing. The Angel of the LORD delivered us
In our current home, a burglar broke into our garage and quickly grabbed several sealed boxes, and took off. Did the Lord forget to protect us that night? The young man who stole the boxes must have got the shock of his life when he opened them because each box was filled with 250 copies of the evangelistic booklet, “Ultimate Questions.” You can read that book here: https://iwilltrustinthelord.com/ultimate-questions/ I later said, “Anyone who steals gospel books frankly needs the gospel!” I think that’s why the Lord allowed him to break in – so he could read the gospel 750 times! We pray that the Lord may still save that young man.
One summer evening I was outside roto-tilling the garden and I smelled smoke – and it wasn’t a BBQ! I came into the house and told Krista that something was burning in the neighborhood and it smelled like a house fire. We couldn’t smell it inside the house. So I ran out the front door and looked up and down the street to see whose house was on fire. When I turned around I saw smoke billowing out from the second floor of our house. Our house was on fire! Our one-year-old son, Daniel Robertson, was already upstairs in his crib. I immediately cried out to the LORD and ran back into the house. Krista and I sprinted upstairs together and I told her to grab Daniel and get outside as I tried to battle the flames at the other end of the hallway. When she got him out safely we called 911. I tried and tried to put out the flames, but it was hopeless. I gave up fighting the fire when I heard the sirens getting closer to our neighborhood. Three fire stations responded to the scene and the flames were quickly doused. The loss of things was not important. The fact that God saved our son meant everything to us.
The next morning I returned to the blackened house and went into Daniel’s room. The ceiling and the walls were dark with soot…except for an arch right over his crib! The Lord heard me and saved me from the heartbreak of losing my youngest son. He suffered no harm. The picture I included today is my attempt to show how it appeared to me. A dear family friend, William MacDonald, heard about the fire and came over to the house that morning. I said, “Bill, I want to show you something” and I took him up to Daniel’s bedroom. As soon as he saw the arch over the crib, he said, “The Angel of the LORD was here last night.”
Psalm 34:7 “The Angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.”
– We thank the LORD for He is the One who saved our son’s life, and later saved his soul. We returned 16 years later, with Daniel, to the fire stations on a special anniversary date and recounted the story with the firemen and thanked them once again for dousing the flames. Of course, we left them with the gospel, and with Krista’s homemade cookies!
– Today, January 7, 2020, would have been William MacDonald’s 104th birthday.
