Our first promise is found in Psalm 4:8: “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.”
Sometimes we may feel nervous and afraid to go to sleep for fear there might be an earthquake, fire or some other calamity that might overtake us in the night. Perhaps we have been reading the newspaper or a news magazine and have been shocked and unnerved by the terrible things that are taking place in the world, and for a time forget the above promise and many other promises of God to take care of us in the dark of the night as well as in the daylight. Sleep is a little bit like death, we go into unconsciousness and know nothing more about what is taking place until we awake again. It takes trust and faith to surrender peacefully to sleep. But if the Lord makes us to dwell in safety, why should we be afraid if we claim this promise? Then, too, consider the 91st Psalm, all of it, which is full of promises of protection, no matter what terrible things may take place around us. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (v. 1). The principal thing is to see that we dwell in the secret place of the Most High, that we abide under the shadow of the Almighty, and are thus very close to him. How do we get into this secret place? By constant prayer, faith, and living close to God, endeavoring always to do His will. If we are doing this, we are in the secret place and should never be afraid.
Our second promise is found in Psalm 10: 9,10: “The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.”
The Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. For whom? For those who know his name and put their trust in him. What does it mean to know his name? It means that we have been baptized into Christ and thus put on his name. It means, too, that we must know a great deal about him. This knowledge we obtain gradually by studying his Word and striving to do his will. Then, if we are oppressed or in trouble we can fly to him and he will be a refuge for us. He will either cause the oppression and trouble to cease or will help us to bear it. In either case we will know that he is with us and we need not be afraid.
Our third promise is found in Psalm 16:11: “Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy: at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.”
The path of life sometimes becomes very obscure for us, we hardly know which way to go. But this verse tells us that God will reveal the path of life to us. Of course we must pray to him to show us this path, and then unfalteringly believe that he WILL show it to us. This verse also informs us that in the presence of the Lord there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. What kind of joy and pleasure will this be? We may not have much of this world’s goods; perhaps our health is failing us; then again, our friends and relatives may turn against us. How then can we be joyful and have eternal pleasures? We can be joyful, knowing that we are God’s children; that we are being taken care of no matter what may happen to us; that we can have the deepest, surest and most lasting pleasure in our knowledge that we are serving the One we love and that he loves us with an everlasting love. Then, too, if we are faithful we know that when Christ calls us we shall indeed have pleasures forevermore.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One