(2) I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” … (5) You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, (6) nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. – Psa 91:2, 5-6 ESV

Faith in God is not a preservative against the storms of life, but it is a refuge through the storms of life.

During this time of self-quarantine, our usual services and times of meeting are cancelled until further notice.

During these times, we are given the opportunity to pause and consider what is really important.

When I held my father’s hand as he passed into eternity, it caused me to pause and assess the direction of my life. God used that event to patiently lead me to Christ…

Even though our lives and normal schedules are disrupted, our faith in God to deliver us through this time is not disrupted. The present reality is that many of us will become sick from this present pestilence and some believers will go home to be with the Lord.

For those who become sick, thanksgiving can be made that the Lord has provided us with immune systems that enable us to fight against such terrible diseases and we can also be thankful for the medical care and treatments that are now available to recover from sickness.

For every believer who does not recover from this sickness, we are thankful that death in the Lord is far better. As the apostle Paul enshrined this motto for each believer, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21)

It is good to thank the Lord at this time that He has forced this pause upon us to consider our latter end. It is a reminder that we each metaphorically have this ‘sword of Damocles’ hanging above our head reminding us of the fragility of life.

Yet there is blessing in knowing that we are safe in the Lord.

However, such knowledge is not possible if we think that there is something that we can do to earn God’s salvation. We can only be sure of our place in Christ, when we put our faith entirely in what He accomplished on our behalf so long ago.

Many acknowledge that Christ died at Calvary to pay for our sin. Yet none of us by nature accept that our own works of righteousness are, in God’s eyes, like filthy rags. Our only real hope that we have as individuals is to rely completely on what Christ has done.

The only sure hope that we have is that God longs to reveal this to us…often in the pause created by some pestilence in life.

We join in the prayer of all believers for you, dear reader, as well as anyone who pauses to consider their mortality during this time of pestilence, that you will search the scriptures and find the truth that God is the only refuge and fortress available for your soul.