Preserve Me, O God!

Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You. Psalms 16:1

The Psalmist had prayed for the Lord's preservation, being fully aware of his vulnerability to the attacked of the enemy that came through many channels. The attack could be physical, psychological, and spiritual. 

Today as I was studying the word of God on this Psalm, I was deeply impressed by the same prayer. In fact, this has been my prayer in a very intensified way ever since the pandemic struck last year. Despite all the precautions and SOPs rolled out by the government, the ultimate protection comes only from the Lord.  This, therefore, does not mean that I can be careless in taking care of my health. No. I must do all that I can, and still seek the Lord's protection. This prayer became very real and strong these days, especially in the ongoing second wave of Covid when many children of God have also been infected with it and a good number of them have succumbed to it already. 

Today morning a sister called me to inform me about two new ones, whom I met in one of the home meetings, who were very bothered by Covid as they themselves and their close relatives have been infected with it.  The call was an indirect conveying of a message to me that these ones needed shepherding and that I should shepherd them. This call reiterated and confirmed the need for the Lord's protection.

Observing the situation among the believers who are infected with Covid, one must be saved from any superstitious concept that Christians will all be automatically preserved. Well, that's not quite true. When pandemic struck, it struck all mankind alike as much as the sun shines and the rain falls on the good and the evil, the believers and the unbelievers, and both as men lives and also dies. That said, there is also a special provision for all the children of God. There is a special grace, special protection from harm and danger, even from the present pandemic. For this, one needs to pray for the Lord's protection, "Preserve me, O God!" This is in addition to taking all the precautionary measures, a man's responsibility in human cooperation with the divine protection.

At least twice, to my memory, saints who are serving under the Government of India have called me to check with me about my take on the Covid vaccination. My answere was simply, take it as it is physically needed, but our trust, hope, and faith is inthe Lord, not the vaccine per se. Having done all that are required to do, still our prayer should be, "Preserve me, O God!"

Yes, our body needs to be preserved, much more our soul and our spirit as well. God's purpose must be fulfilled in us and through, for this our body needs to be healthy, our soul transformed, and our spirit exercised. We need the Lord's preservation in our mind to be renewed becoming the mind of Christ, our emotion to love the Lord supremely, and our will becoming one with His will. We also need the Lord's preservation in our spirit, to be ever kept renewed and exercised moment by moment.

Yes, our body, our soul, and our spirit needs the Lord's preservation. For this we need to prayer, "Preserve me, O Lord!"

Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You.