The Psalm of the season is clearly Psalm 91. It lifts our eyes up from our circumstances and calls us to call God, “my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.” In a year as tumultuous as this, these words ought to be regularly uttered by us Christians.
However, there are some who take this Psalm as a protective charm against all diseases. After all, we are not to fear the terror of night or the arrow that flies by day, and especially not the pestilence that stalks in the darkness. Why? Because no plague will come near our tent. So says the Psalm.
But there seems to be an arbitrary literalness to this interpretation. ‘Pestilence’ and ‘plague’ obviously have a one-to-one correlation with the coronavirus. So let’s take that part of the Psalm and apply that to us. But why stop there? I have never been hit by a rogue arrow flying in the daylight, nor will I ever be! Shoot at me all you want (with your bow and arrow). I’m also comforted to know that when I go camping, plagues won’t bother me so long as I’m in my tent. And while I’m out camping, I got all assurance to stomp on snakes and enter fisticuffs with escapee zoo lions. I’m comforted to know that I’ve been delivered from the snare of the Fowler, despite the fact that I don’t know what that even means. As for verse seven, “A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand,” I am clinging desperately to this promise as I play Age Of Empires 2.
I’m making this absurd interpretation because I’m trying to highlight the arbitrary nature of our literalism at times. This arbitrary literalism isn’t only present in our time of coronavirus. It will show itself again and again at some later date when the human race faces some other crisis.
Instead of choosing parts of the Bible that we want to apply directly to ourselves, let us instead prepare for such a time by cultivating a more robust hermeneutic, one that takes into account the whole Bible as a context in which to read each text.
You will find far greater riches as you see all these promises purchased by the blood of Christ in our salvation from sin, death, the world and the Devil. As salvation history unfolds we must place each piece of the puzzle in its right place. We need to read the Old Testament in its proper context. When it comes to the physical blessings promised by God in the Old Testament, read them in the context of the Deuteronomic covenant, where the saved people of God experience the physical blessings of God after their subsequent obedience (Deut 30:11-20).
Yet these physical blessings were never truly attained because the Isralites always fell into disobedience! But lo and behold, Romans 10:5-13 uses these very words to point to Christ! Because now our place in salvation history is no longer like the nation of Israel, looking forward to the arrival of the Messiah, rather we look back to the arrival of Messiah and see all our blessings in him.
So although I really want to be completely immune from piercing damage by rogue arrows flying through the daylight, and although I deeply desire my camping tent to be a safe haven from man-flu (deadly pestilence that it is!), I have greater spiritual blessings purchased for me by Christ, and given to me through his Spirit. And so do you. So don’t settle for second best. Set your rock and refuge as God our Saviour who will see you through the storm of his judgement on disobedience as he clothes you in Christ’s righteousness.
Bigvai and Shiphrah 