“A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you” - Psalm 91:7 (NIV).
As the coronavirus pandemic rages worldwide and strikes closer home (this week I lost a friend) the struggle can appear hopeless. For all the public health safety measures put in place and even by observing all- hand hygiene, physical distancing, masks, etc. - there is always a gap.
Take the case of handling currency which goes through several hands! How about going to the market and picking up groceries which went through several hands. For all those that insist on lockdowns there are neighborhoods where bodies are always pushing against each other and folks can’t stay at home for they have no food! These have to go out and work in many offices and homes where they bump into someone running with the virus.
So, how does one protect himself? Our verse today should encourage us. When the angel of death came to pass reaping every first born in Egypt the Israelites would be spared of this grief because God’s hand of protection was on their households. “There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.’ Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel” (Exodus 11:6-7).
There can be a point when everything fails but the Lord, the giver of life, is the ultimate protector. For the children of God may we daily plead His blood to cover us wherever we go and whatever we touch, just as the blood of the lamb saved every Israelite household whose door was marked with it. “When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down” (Exodus 12:23).
Prayer for today: Lord Father God, creator of heaven and earth, I pray that the blood of the lamb of God may cover me and all my people wherever they go and whatever they touch, that all may return safely, for we are your people, set apart for your glory, and not a single harm shall touch one of us!
Related upcoming events
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20/04/2024 - 21/04/2024 All day“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong” (1 Cor 16:13)
Tourists who happen to visit Bukingham palace will be expected to notice the King’s royal guards. Dressed in colorful often red uniforms and adorning tall black helmets they stand on guard and no one dare cross them. Elsewhere in life we find guards in all manner of places quite firm on deterring any intruder wherever they may be.
For us Believers being on constant guard is a calling we must permanently observe. And why? Once in the course of his work, “Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns” (Mathew 16:23). Peter had just protested that he would not deny Jesus only to be sported out!
There is something for us to note here. Satan had penetrated the ranks of Jesus and was going through his closest disciple. It is clear that Peter was not even aware that he was being used. Anyway, he found his target, Jesus, was on guard. Immediately Satan was sent packing.
No Believer is immune to attacks from Satan. After all when once the Lord asked Satan his whereabouts: “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it” (Job 1:7). Clearly the guy is out there 24/7 looking for whom to devour. “Be alert, be on watch! Your enemy, the Devil, roams around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (I Peter 5:8).
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, as you have warned us to be on “guard” help me ever to be on the watch out for the attacks of the enemy and with your word rebuke Satan, this I pray in Jesus’ name!
