You will not be afraid of the terror by night

You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Or of the arrow that flies by day;

Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. Psalm 91:5

How amazing is this verse!? Boldly, the Psalmist lists four fears common to humanity under the declaration, “YOU WILL NOT BE AFRAID…”.

The top four on the fear list include:

• Terror by night [things that go bump in the night; creeper stuff]
• The arrow that flies by day [projectiles of all kinds: drive-bys; snipers; terrorist attacks; hold ups; stick ups; home invasions]
• Pestilence that stalks in darkness [covid; flu; plagues and diseases of every kind]
• Destruction that lays waste at noon [California wildfires; Midwest tornadoes; terrorist attacks; earthquakes; etc.]

Every one of these scary potentialities has enough “oomph” to keep even the boldest among us tossing and turning, trying to sleep with one eye open, alert to the tiniest creak in the house. Hearing a noise outside can send the sleeper shooting upright in bed, heart pounding; the tiniest tickle in the throat can cause full-blown panic; and the brain’s replay of almost any given newscast can steal shuteye from the most exhausted body.

But Psalm 91 declares “YOU WILL NOT BE AFRAID”. Personalize it, and you will proclaim, “I WILL NOT BE AFRAID”, even when you DO feel afraid. You’re not lying; you’re quoting the Word of God.

The beauty of it all is that the more you interact with this Psalm and this verse (and with all of the Word of God), the more you will believe it. And the more you believe it, the more of a reality it will be in your life.

You will not be afraid of the terror by night.

I had frequent nightmares as a kid and was obsessively afraid of car accidents, break-ins, and the wolf man. Laugh if you want, but I’ll bet you had a list, too! But as I started spending time in the Bible, reading its promises, and taking them for myself, the fear levels in my life slowly decreased.

Then sometime in the last years of the Obama or the first year of the Trump administration, I sensed God saying, “Pray Psalm 91 a thousand times.” I didn’t try to do it in a hundred or even a thousand days, checking it off rapidly to get it done. No; I’m still not done! But as I walk my neighborhood or drive my car, I will likely be praying through something…and often it is Psalm 91.

I had been praying this Psalm for a good year or year and a half, and something happened that confirmed to me that I was indeed being changed on the inside by praying Psalm 91.

In the middle of the night, outside my bedroom window, I heard noises at the side gate to my backyard. I woke up for a moment, said to myself, “Oh, it’s probably just a bad guy,” and fell right back to sleep, unconcerned.

Perhaps thirty or forty minutes later, around 2 AM, I was awakened by loud banging on my front door. I peeked out the blinds and saw two police cars parked in front of my home. I threw on a robe and went to the front door, opened it, and asked, “How may I help you, Officers?”

They told me a house had been robbed a block over, and they found the perpetrator hiding in my neighbor’s bushes. When they approached him, he tore off into my back yard, and in the darkness of night, they lost him.

I think they were shocked when I declared, almost triumphantly, “I KNEW there was a bad guy back there!” They told me if I heard any other noise out there to let them know, and they went on their way.

But that lack of fear didn’t leave! I actually had to restrain myself from going outside immediately to look for loot! I just about had to take myself by the scruff of the neck and say, “Listen here, young lady! You can look for it in the morning!”

Now don’t get me wrong—praying and meditating on this Psalm will not automatically chase every fear out of your life. But when fear does crop up—and it will—you will have a well-worn path right back to the Scripture that declares “I WILL NOT FEAR” and by that, you can calm your soul as you look to God for His powerful help. And help He will.

“You will not fear the terror by night.”

Dorothy

© Dorothy Frick, 2021