If you are old enough you may remember this. Iraq had invaded Kuwait....President George H. W. Bush assembled a coalition of nations to expel Iraq....and Operation Desert Storm did just that. It was 1991 when the operation began. There was a grave danger of chemical weapons being used against coalition forces. There was no doubt as to a final outcome of the war....but serious concern among Americans that these chemical weapons would kill thousands of our military in the process.
You would have to understand the essence of a large segment of the American public at that time. It wasn't a general awakening that had taken place in America over the previous two decades.....and the word revival didn't quite fit either....but it was something special.....and legitimate in terms of a spiritual movement. A fear of the Lord had taken hold in much of America....a great reverence towards God.....multitudes really were 'saved' during a two decade period.....and I was one of them.
Christians were praying prior to the war.....during a buildup that President Bush had devised almost perfectly....I mean really praying. Psalm 91 was central in our prayers....Psalm 91 in 1991....with verses such as...."I will say to the LORD, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust'....(verse 2)....and....'He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your truth and buckler'...(verse 4)....and....'No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your tent. For He shall give His angels charge over you, To guard you in all your ways"....(verses 10 & 11.) A small pamphlet with Psalm 91 seemed to find its way into the hands of most Christians....particularly our military that was over there in the Middle East.
This....Psalm 91....was a Bible chapter for the day and the time we were in....and the church at that time.....but is it the best Bible passage for today? We are a different church than we were back then. Fear of losing a political election has replaced fear of the LORD. To me Psalm 91 doesn't seem to fit....by itself. Oh it is a true as it ever was....and it will fit once again in the future....probably the very near future....but we are in need of something different today. We need scriptural warnings on what we have become more than we need a reminder that God will protect us. Even here I'm not writing to everyone....for there are still many Christians who have retained that humility in an age of making America great again....but too few of these believers....so warnings have to be in that pamphlet that would circulate today.
Intent is not the problem. Discernment....or rather the lack of it....is the problem. There are churches today.....most of them small....unaffected by the church growth movement....but not all of them small....but even these churches need the warnings....to understand better the overall condition of the evangelical church....and the people of America....and what may be in our very near future.
Psalm 91 is for today as it has been for every day since the Holy Spirit dictated it....and there are believers in this world where this Psalm is indeed the Bible passage that is needed....and it can be preached here in America also....if it is wound around the warnings from God's Word....for just as we hear so often....how can a person be told that they must be saved.....without telling them from what they must be saved....how can Christians be comforted....if the true anguish is not first discerned?
You would have to understand the essence of a large segment of the American public at that time. It wasn't a general awakening that had taken place in America over the previous two decades.....and the word revival didn't quite fit either....but it was something special.....and legitimate in terms of a spiritual movement. A fear of the Lord had taken hold in much of America....a great reverence towards God.....multitudes really were 'saved' during a two decade period.....and I was one of them.
Christians were praying prior to the war.....during a buildup that President Bush had devised almost perfectly....I mean really praying. Psalm 91 was central in our prayers....Psalm 91 in 1991....with verses such as...."I will say to the LORD, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust'....(verse 2)....and....'He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your truth and buckler'...(verse 4)....and....'No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your tent. For He shall give His angels charge over you, To guard you in all your ways"....(verses 10 & 11.) A small pamphlet with Psalm 91 seemed to find its way into the hands of most Christians....particularly our military that was over there in the Middle East.
This....Psalm 91....was a Bible chapter for the day and the time we were in....and the church at that time.....but is it the best Bible passage for today? We are a different church than we were back then. Fear of losing a political election has replaced fear of the LORD. To me Psalm 91 doesn't seem to fit....by itself. Oh it is a true as it ever was....and it will fit once again in the future....probably the very near future....but we are in need of something different today. We need scriptural warnings on what we have become more than we need a reminder that God will protect us. Even here I'm not writing to everyone....for there are still many Christians who have retained that humility in an age of making America great again....but too few of these believers....so warnings have to be in that pamphlet that would circulate today.
Intent is not the problem. Discernment....or rather the lack of it....is the problem. There are churches today.....most of them small....unaffected by the church growth movement....but not all of them small....but even these churches need the warnings....to understand better the overall condition of the evangelical church....and the people of America....and what may be in our very near future.
Psalm 91 is for today as it has been for every day since the Holy Spirit dictated it....and there are believers in this world where this Psalm is indeed the Bible passage that is needed....and it can be preached here in America also....if it is wound around the warnings from God's Word....for just as we hear so often....how can a person be told that they must be saved.....without telling them from what they must be saved....how can Christians be comforted....if the true anguish is not first discerned?
