Do Not Be Afraid- Children's Devotional Based on Psalm 91

“You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.
Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
No evil shall befall you,”
Psalm 91: 5 to 10 NKJV

There are many things that can make even God’s children afraid. We should be afraid of some things and make sure we protect ourselves from them. The Bible says we should avoid evil companions. It’s important to choose good friends because we become like the people we surround ourselves with. We should be afraid of addictions to the point that we avoid using harmful substances like drugs. We should fear the consequences of breaking our country’s laws and our parents’ rules.

But we should not live in fear. We need not worry about what bad things could happen to us today. We can ask God to be in charge of our day and keep us safe and make all things work out right. God says He keeps us safe if we make Him our “dwelling place”. That means our faith and trust are in Him. Do you know that God can even take our mistakes and make them into something good for us?

Sometimes bad things do happen in our lives even when we do everything right. I remember two times when my grandchildren questioned me why God hadn’t kept us safe. One was when I was driving them home from school a few years ago before they were homeschooled. My car was rear ended as I was stopped for a red light. The other time was when my grandson was riding his bike and ran into the back of a parked truck. His mouth was cut up and one tooth was broken. We are human and at times we will make mistakes no matter how careful we try to be. We need to ask God for wisdom for our day to know how to handle every situation in the best way that will please Him.

And how did God take our blunders and make them into something good? My grandson and I agreed that if we hadn’t prayed for safety everyday things could have been a lot worse. And the good thing? We both learned to be a lot more careful.

The Adult Version:

Last week our neighbors had a small but damaging fire in their house and two days later they had a break-in. Although we live in a big city- Calgary, Albert- where shootings, knifings and crimes are on the news everyday, I believed we lived in a relevantly safe neighborhood and was shocked by the robbery next door.

We had planned on going away for the weekend but I was very on edge to leave our house unguarded for night. We had done what we could to keep our house safe. When we bought our property we researched the safety of our area. We had a burglar alarm installed and made sure our windows and doors were secured. When we are away we have someone close-by keeping an eye on our house.
As I was relaying my fears to God He put these words into my mind, “It shall not come near you.” That sounded like Psalm 91 to me so I looked it up.

I found comfort and safety in its words. Although Christians too are victims of crimes and fires at times, I knew God was telling me I could safely go visit our children for the weekend and leave our property in His hands. It would be safe. And if something happened it would still be alright. Everything was in His control.

Ruth Willms is a Children's Christian author and creator of The Lion Tree which you can find at www.RuthWillms.com You can find daily devotionals for kids and "going deeper" for parents at www.ruthwillms.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com