“Lord I believe, help my unbelief” is actually what a desperate father said to Jesus. His son was tormented by a demon but Jesus’s disciples had not been able to cast it out (Luke 9:40). Encountering Jesus, the father asked for help from Jesus. He was told that anything was possible for a person who believed. I remembered this appeal as I studied Psalms 91 this morning. During the shut down in 2020, I quoted Psalms 91 a lot, but today I saw it as I have never seen it before.
When in crisis, I frequently cry out to God hoping that He will respond with enough of what I need to survive. I now see this as unbelief. Knowing God, is knowing that His response is alway much greater than what we are asking. His love is extravagant. Psalms 91 describes the condition of a person who chooses to live under the protection of God. It’s described as a secret place, a refuge, a covering, a shading. Access is granted through the person’s love and trust in God. The result is a God who actively responds with safety. Danger is a given, but deliverance comes from God. The person may depend on it.
A thousand shall fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you behold the reward of the wicked.
Psalm 91:7
Lord, help my unbelief! The temptation is to interpret the destruction of people around us as evidence that a shared calamity must also destroy us. If we are just like them, we must be destroyed just like them. If so many people are falling or dying, what will save me from the same fate? In embracing this perspective, we let down our shield of truth (verse 4) doubting that God has promised to keep evil away from us.
For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. They shall bear you up in their wings lest you dash you foot against a stone.
Psalm 91:11-12
Isn’t this overkill? As I read these verses, my mind immediately went to the reaction of battle hardened Roman guards commissioned to secure Jesus’s tomb. They became as dead men when they beheld the angels who appeared to roll away the stone. Am I to understand that in His care of me, God will even send His angels to keep me from stubbing my toe? Yet with this kind of provision, I am hoping in my crisis situation that God will provide enough of what I need to get me through? Lord, help my unbelief! You are the God who goes above and beyond.
You shall tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shall you trample under feet.
Psalm 91:13
Here God’s provision is power for me. If I am to understand the analogy being made, God is giving me the capacity to confront a real threat and defeat it with the small effort necessary to squash a bug. When I abide in God, the king of the jungle, a poisonous snake, and Satan himself is as much of an obstacle for me as an insect! As God admonished Joshua who led Israel into the promised land, I must be strong and courageous because God is with me where ever I go! (Joshua 1:9)
But most of all, what moved me as I read Psalm 91 this morning is that God responds to my love. He promises that because I have chosen to love Him, and to place my hope and trust in Him–He will answer me, and be with me in trouble, deliver me and honor me. Implicit in this text is that calamity will come. As a new believer, I hoped that my devotion to God would keep trouble away from me and viewed disaster as evidence of lack in my relationship with God. However, walking through Psalm 91 this morning, I am emboldened in trouble and shielded from harm because He’s with me.