–1 Kings 8:23 (NKJV)
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Have you ever found yourself wondering, how am the world am I going to get out of this?  Maybe it’s financial, marriage, children, storms, or just life in general that is causing difficulties.  This next portion of Psalm 91 is interesting.  

          11 — For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.
          12 — In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
          13 — You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.
          14 — Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high because he has know My name.
          15 — He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.
          16 — With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.   (NKJV)

       You may recognize verses 11-12 as those which Satan used to tempt Jesus.  Yes, imagine being tempted with the Scriptures.  He put forth truth, but Jesus replied that we know that God will protect, but that doesn’t mean we take foolish chances, or tempt Him.  But if you recall what happened after Satan left Jesus in the wilderness?  “Then the devil left Him, and behold angels came and ministered to Him.” (Matthew 4:11, NKJV)  The angels were there all the time.  “They were protecting him all along!  Jesus didn’t have to try any daredevil dare–he just had to stay with his mission, and God would get him through it.  The same is true for us.  He will rescue those who love him.” (William J. Petersen)
       Beware of the danger that is presented here.  In the last few decades there has been a fad in the media, and among Christians and New Agers of focusing too much on angels.  Some have gone so far as to worship them, which is abhorred by the angelic host.  They are helpers, messengers, agents of God.  We are to stay on mission!  We are to go forth to do whatever God has told us to do, then, if needed they are there, to do God’s bidding.
       Know this, that God is there to protect us, either by His direct intervention, or if need be, sending angels.  The key–verse 14, setting our love on Him.  Knowing His name, which means recognizing that He is God, and that He is Father.  Steven Lawson puts it this way, “Those whose allegiance is to the Lord will find that his protective allegiance is theirs.”  Now, this does not mean that He will deliver us in the manner which we want or prescribe, but the way He wants.  Remember the answer of the three Hebrew lads who stood against Nebuchadnezzar’s warning.  They told him that God was able to deliver them from the fiery furnace, but even if He did not they would not bow. (Daniel 3:17-18).  They understood the spiritual deliverance was more important than the temporal.
       It is for us to remember, and to know that “God is bigger than the adversity and remains in full control.” (Lawson)  He can keep us out of any danger or He can keep us through any danger.  Whatever happens, He allows, and if we trust in Him it will be for our good.  “Setback, terrible things, even death are all only momentary.  It takes resurrection from the dead to realize the worst the devil throws at you never hurts you in the least.  Our implicit trust in God brings assurance that the bleeding nail prints of the present moment will become beautiful scars in the future.”  (George O. Wood)

               “Christian, seek not yet repose;
               Hear thy guardian angel say,
               ‘Thou art in the midst of foes;
               Watch and pray.'”
                       –Charlotte Elliott

                         –John Deacon  (A Man Called Justice)

       “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

                         –James 1:21(NKJV)
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There’s one thing I haven’t quite figured out, well, really, there are many, but I have always wondered why people, especially those in high places cheat, steal, commit fraud just to get ahead and get more money.  There are two places where man is equal:  at the foot of the cross, and in the grave.  It angers me, but I also think it sad how crooked politicians use their office to “get ahead”.  It’s sad, because without the Lord all that awaits them is a hole in the ground where they’ll stay until the Judgment.
       Solomon writes, in Ecclesiastes 8:

               10 — Then I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of holiness, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done.  This also is vanity.
               11 — Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
               12 — Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him.
               13 — But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.  (NKJV)

I don’t rightly understand two things here.  The first is the grand ceremony of the funeral possession of a wicked person.  The poor will stand and watch the cars goes by, maybe not knowing who the person is, and surely never meeting them.  But not long after, except possibly on the anniversary of the birth or death, they will be forgotten.  The second is the fact that God delays righteous judgment.  We, in the United States, are to be given a “fair and speedy” trial, but sometimes it takes years because of the system.  It would seem that when wickedness is done, God would strike them, but then, that’s why I’m not given the position of a Judge.  God is righteous, but also full of mercy.  He waits, waits for repentance.
       Another thing I don’t understand is why bad things happen to good people.  I know the rain falls on the just and the unjust, but it seems that troubles hound the way of the righteous.  I will not take the time to try to answer that, but reading the words of Jesus helps.  There is a “baptism of suffering,” that little is spoken about today.  Instead, there are only showers of prosperity.  It may appear that bad things happen to good people, and that good things happen to bad people, but that is looking at the surface.  What is happening in the spiritual realm?  Someone said that “God gives us the ability to cope with reality though we’re at a loss to explain it.”  Pascal wrote, “If there were no obscurity, man would not feel his corruption; if there were no light, man could not hope for a cure.  Thus it is not only right but useful for us that God should be partly concealed and partly revealed, since it is equally dangerous for man to know God without knowing his own wretchedness as to know his wretchedness without knowing God.”

                    “I’ve had many tears and sorrows,
                    I’ve had questions for tomorrow;
                    There’ve been times I didn’t know right from wrong,
                    But in ev’ry situation, God gave me blessed consolation
                    That my trials come to only make me strong…

                              Through it all, through it all,
                              Oh, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus,
                              I’ve learned to trust in God.
                              Through it all, through it all,
                              I’ve learned to depend upon His Word.”
                                          –Andrae Crouch

                    –Lou Bradshaw  (Dead Mule Valley)

       “…Man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.”

                    –Deuteronomy 8:3 (NKJV)
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I don’t understand “hackers”.  Why in the world would someone want to spend their time breaking into others’ computers, accounts, and lives?  It is an obsession as well as a crime, along with lack of integrity.  Yes, you might have guessed, I was hacked this week.  With threats, and a tinge of scoffing that I should have done a better job of protecting my passwords.  But, I ask, why prey on the feeble (and I am feeble when it comes to working with computers).  Get a job and put your talents to good use for the benefit of others.  Perhaps it is because of a hard heart.

               “Happy is the man who is always reverent, but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.  –Proverbs 28:14, NKJV
               “Blessed is the man who always fears the Lord, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.”  –Proverbs 28:14, NIV

       The fear of the Lord, what is it?  We could give several answers and be on the right track.  Some say it is just what it says, “fear.”  Others say it means “to be in awe.”  I like what Bob Beasley says, “It begins with an understanding of the gospel:  who I am and who God is, and the great gulf between us that has been bridged by Jesus Christ.  It means to live in utter dependence upon His law and to obey it.”  Note that we who have been born again never need to fear the Lord’s condemnation.  However, there should be a fear within us because He is a holy God.  The person who fears the Lord recognizes the purpose of the Law, that it is part of the factor in God’s grace.  It is the Law that shows our failure and the need to turn to a Savior.
       “The person who fears the Lord wants to keep the moral law for two basic reasons.  First, he stands in awe of his God and he wants to please Him.  Second, he realizes that God, in His infinite wisdom, has given people His Law as a guide to a happy, fulfilling, and productive life.  The Christian puts God’s wisdom above his own and relies completely upon God’s judgment.” (Beasely)  We realize that we are not our own and want to please our heavenly Father by following His commandments.  Jesus said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.  And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” (John 14:21, NKJV)  John develops this a little first in his first epistle, “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.” (1 John 2:3, NKJV)
       Then there is that portion of the proverbs that speaks of the hardening of one’s heart.  I have wondered about that often, especially when reading the account of Moses dealing with Pharaoh.  What does it mean to harden one’s heart?  Simply this, the hardness of heart is simply unbelief.  Sin can cause a person to harden their hearts.  The writer of Hebrews warns about hardening the heart.  Get rid of unbelief–today–lest there be an evil heart of unbelief…lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:12-13)  
        Turning your back on God, on God’s commandments (Word) is a way to harden your heart.  Lacking faith and rebelling against the promises of God is a way to harden the heart.  Not trusting in God, and in His direction is a way to harden the heart.  See, it wasn’t only the stiff-necked, proud Pharaoh who hardened his heart, it was the people of Israel when they refused to enter the Promised Land.   Do not be like them.  “…Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.  For who, having heard, rebelled?  Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?  Now with whom was He angry forty years?  Was it not with those who sinned whose corpses fell in the wilderness?” (Hebrews 3:15-17, NKJV)
       The person who hardens his heart will not listen to the words of the Lord; he will not be guided by the Holy Spirit.  Woe to that person, for the Lord declares that when the day of calamity comes He will laugh.  Because He was mocked when He reached out, the person with the hard heart will receive no help from the Lord when terror comes.  (Proverbs 1:23-27).  “Then they will call on men, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.” (Proverbs 1:28, NKJV).
       Therefore, fear the Lord and thrive on every word that proceeds from His mouth.