“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

                        will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.     I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress,

                        my God, in whom I trust.”

For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler

                        and from the deadly pestilence.         

He will cover you with his pinions,

                        and under his wings you will find refuge;

                        his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

You will not fear the terror of the night,

                        nor the arrow that flies by day,           nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,

                        nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side,

                        ten thousand at your right hand,

                        but it will not come near you.

You will only look with your eyes

                        and see the recompense of the wicked.

Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—

                        the Most High, who is my refuge—   no evil shall be allowed to befall you,

                        no plague come near your tent.

For he will command his angels concerning you

                        to guard you in all your ways.

On their hands they will bear you up,

                        lest you strike your foot against a stone.

You will tread on the lion and the adder;

                        the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;

                        I will protect him, because he knows my name.        When he calls to me, I will answer him;

                        I will be with him in trouble;

                        I will rescue him and honor him.

With long life I will satisfy him

                        and show him my salvation.””

(Psalm 91:1–16 The Holy Bible, English Standard Version)

https://accordance.bible/link/read/ESVS#Psa._91:1

This is a comforting psalm at a time such as this, when a silent killer stalks our days and our nights, our waking and our dreams.  And we can all stand some comfort right now.  I am grateful for what federal, state, and local political leaders are doing—as well as many businesses and individuals.  But a deeper comfort must come from a higher power than these, if we are not to be consumed by worry, fear, and anxiety.

I am especially fond of verses 9 and 10 of Psalm 91. “Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—the Most High, who is my refuge—no evil shall be allowed to befall you,

no plague come near your tent.”

However, vss. 11 and 12 give me pause for thought.  I can almost hear someone exclaim, “Why on earth would being protected by the angels so that you wouldn’t even get a stone bruise give you pause for thought!?!”

There is a reason: In the New Testament, the devil quoted these two verses when he was tempting Jesus in the wilderness.  Yes, I’m afraid that the devil can quote Scripture!  If you don’t believe me, have a look at Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13.

Basically, the devil was tempting Jesus to prove that he was God’s son, by doing something reckless.  “Jump from the pinnacle of the temple, Jesus!  That will impress people!  And, after all, doesn’t the Scripture say that, if you make the Lord your refuge, God’s angels will protect you?”

Jesus rejected this use of Psalm 91:11-12, and refused to jump.  So, we probably should not think of Psalm 91 as a blanket statement of God’s protection, no matter what.  Recklessness is not faith.  It is just recklessness.

This has practical implications for our current situation with the covid-19 virus (coronavirus).  Some Christians are, I fear, using Scriptures such as Psalm 91 as a reason not to take seriously the warnings from federal, state, and local officials who are telling us what we should do (and, more importantly, what we should not do) right now.  That strikes me as not being so much an expression of faith, as it is an example of foolishness.

If anyone had faith, it was Jesus of Nazareth.  Yet he was not reckless.  He knew God and the Bible very well indeed.  Indeed, there are those of us—and I am one of them—who believe that Jesus was God in the flesh, the very one who inspired the Bible.

So, while I am not a fan of isolation and of washing the skin off my hands, and though I am generally skeptical of governments of all kinds, I think that, in this case, we ought not to assume that we will be safe no matter what we do, if only we believe.  I don’t know how many people who have died due to the coronavirus so far were people of faith, but I suspect some were.