Does Psalm 91 promise us that no virus can ever enter our household?  Do the Scriptures teach us that we will never suffer from disease, disaster, danger, or destruction? Let me give you at least 4 reasons that interpreting Scriptures like this, in the way that some teachers are proposing that we would interpret them, is not faithful to Scripture or to the God that authored them.

Wait just a minute!  At least give me a chance to finish before you respond.  Hear me out. I don’t want to destroy your faith. Really, I don’t.  

I am not against Scripture.  I believe Scripture with all my heart.

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

2 Timothy 3:16

I’ve trusted God’s Word with my life and with my eternal soul and I believe every… single… word.   

I am not against praying with faith.  Scripture clearly tells us:

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Hebrews 11:6

And I am also not against physical safety and protection from disease.  I pray God’s protection for my family, for the members of my church family, and for anyone who asks me to pray for their physical safety. I share the heart of the Apostle John who said:

Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.

1 John 3:1-2

I am not trying to remove or revise any portion of Scripture.  I believe in the Word of God, the Power of God and the Spirit of God.  

But can we at least be honest and agree that God, for His own purposes, has chosen to answer some of our requests for physical safety and protection by saying, “No”?

Jordan Standridge, who frequently writes on this blog, lost his Grandfather last week.  His Grandpa, who he affectionately refers to as “Nonno”, has been a faithful missionary for 72 years in Italy, one of the most difficult countries to minister in. 

My dear friend Lance Quinn, who I served with in ministry, lost his beloved wife Beth, to non-smokers lung cancer, just over a week ago.  His wife was a beautiful example of confident trust in a sovereign God. Every time I visited the Quinn family, with the goal of being an encouragement to them, I left being the one encouraged. Beth’s life was an illustration of what 1 Peter 3:4 calls, the “imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.”

If physical safety and protection in this life are God’s promises to us, we would have to admit that God has not fulfilled His promises in a way that is clear to all of us. 

Honestly, if God fulfills His promises in the way that many religious teachers are claiming that He fulfills His promises, I’m not sure what we mean by promises anymore. 

It’s ironic that many people, who claim that they take the Scriptures literally, are satisfied with a less than literal fulfillment of what they understand the Scriptures to teach.  Many people are satisfied with healings that don’t remove the symptoms, prophecies that never come true, and promises that are never fulfilled. 

If you believe in the literal interpretation of the Scriptures and, at the same time, you also believe that it’s always God’s will for you to be physcially healthy and financially wealthy, you’ve got to be wondering, “did I miss something here?”… at least a little bit.

If Jesus promised His disciples that He would physically rise again on the third day and He didn’t physically rise again on the third day, would we believe anything else that He said prophetically?  And if a religious teacher tells us he can protect Florida from the Coronavirus, or that he can blow the Coronavirus away, should we believe anything else that he says prophetically?

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