This week I’ve committed this promise from scripture to memory:
Have no fear of sudden disaster
or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,
for the Lord will be your confidence
and will keep your foot from being snared.
(Prov 3.25-26 NIV)
The lines before this describe someone who walks in the ways of wisdom and discernment, and the lines after someone who treats other people with fairness and generosity. So the assurance here fits into a larger context of someone living a godly life.
What does the promise mean, though? If it says trouble will never touch the good person, then experience shows that to be false. Our Lord Jesus, the best person ever to live, endured terrible troubles in his life, the culmination of which we will observe in the coming holy week.
Perhaps I must read the promise at a deeper level. Whatever trouble comes upon a godly person, it doesn’t have power to overthrow them. God’s love and providential care outweigh any calamities — provided I make God my final trust, rather than earthly things.
I’ve been walking more in a state of fear than a state of trust lately. So I’m hiding these words in my heart, hoping they will fertilize my heart and allow a deeper trust to grow up.
I find Phil 4 ad Rom 8 especially helpful, also Ps 27. I think our media don’t do us any favors; the anxiety is like a computer virus. Scripture is like security software.