The Psalmist now makes a bold statement that he will fear no evil. He also gives the reason why; "for You are with me." He may well have had in mind Deuteronomy 31:6 which says "Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you." Verse 8 continues that thought "The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you."
These verses do not say that we should be cavalier about evil. We must constantly be on guard for it. I Peter 5:8 tell us "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith…" Satan works very hard trying to sidetrack the Christian and make us ineffective in our Christian lives so we must stay alert to his activity in our lives. We resist him by being firm in our faith.
Ephesians 6:11 instructs us to put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." The following verses describe that armor;
"girded your loins with truth" - integrity and faithfulness
"breastplate of righteousness" - righteous living
"Gospel of peace" - thorough knowledge of the Bible
"shield of faith" - resolute faith in the Lord
"helmet of salvation" - the eternal hope of salvation
"sword of the Spirit" - the Spirit’s recall of the Word in our heart.
Remember when Jesus faced the devil in the wilderness after being there for 40 days without food. The devil tempted Him in three different ways and each time He resisted him by quoting Scripture.
The Lord as our Shepherd alerts us to and protects us from the advances of the evil one. He does this by giving us the tools to resist. Our responsibility is to develop the skill to use those tools and apply them in our lives. When we do that we need fear no evil.
No comments:
Post a Comment