Is It True?

The LORD keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. [Psalm 121.7]

I want to believe Psalm 121.7 is true. But as with all the promises like this in the Bible, it seems Christian society has carelessly categorized them in utopian idealism while remaining disbelievingly detached in practice. It is as if only the utopian idea of these promises will help us bear the pain they claim to relieve us of. Really?

I don't have all the answers, but somehow, it seems like if the Bible says something is true, then it should be true. If the LORD keeps us from all harm, then shouldn't we expect to be kept from all harm?

Psalm 121.7 was written before the Advent of Jesus and the Age of Grace in which we now live. In other words, it was written in a time when mankind was bound to heavy-handed religious laws and regulations that no human could possibly uphold all the time. And yet, the Psalmist would write that "the LORD keeps you from all harm"? How much truer then should Psalm 121.7 be today when Jesus paid the full price for sin and relieved believers from the responsibility of the meticulous religious protocol previously required to appease God? In demonstration, Jesus removed people from harm in healing them (and instructed all who follow Him to do the same!).

If we then genuinely believe the Bible is the inspired and indisputable Word of God, how can we consider verses like Psalm 121.7 with such shallow insincerity? Isn't it hypocritical to be so obviously conflicted in saying the Bible is true but Psalm 121.7 doesn't mean what it says?

Perhaps then the New Living Translation is wrong... Here is what the old King James Version says:

The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. [Psalm 121.7 KJV]

What is "evil" if it is not "harm?" Everywhere in the Bible that evil is mentioned, harm is synonymous. Everywhere in modern references to evil, it is tagged so because of the harm it brings. And, if Satan is the embodiment of evil, then Jesus tagged him accurately:

The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. [John 10.10]

Why not just admit the fact that Psalm121.7 says:

The LORD keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. [Psalm 121.7]

HELLO! Is anyone paying attention?

The disconnect though is real. I am experiencing harm in my own body even as I write this... 

So, if my body (my experience) tells me the Bible isn't true, am I to trust my experience over the Bible?

Here's the deal: if God is indeed Who He says He Is and His Word is indeed true, then my experience is a product of my own failing, not His. IF the effect and character of God is determined by my life experience, then I am a god unto myself and have no practical need whatsoever for any other "god" as such. I fear this conclusion, albeit unspoken, is prevalent in the Church today.

So, why my disconnect??? I cannot say. I do not know. But my ignorance DOES NOT change God's Word:

The LORD keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. [Psalm 121.7]

In practice, I am going to recite this verse as often as I possibly can... to myself and to all who will hear it.

Father, forgive me for my unbelief. And worse, forgive me for constantly trying to adjust my theology about You based on my experience. You are Who You say You Are!