OCTOBER 4
For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways (Ps. 91:11).
This is a wonderful promise text, even if the devil did try to twist it once to his own use (Luke 4:10). The whole angelic host is commissioned "to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation" (Heb. 1:14; cf. Gen. 28:12; Ps. 34:7; John 1:51).
To the Christian the ways of sin are not "thy ways." "Thy ways" are the paths of duty, as wise old Adam Clarke reminds us. We are to keep our own ways, not those of the flesh, the world, and the devil. We are to keep to the ways that God has appointed for us, and there He has promised to care for us. When Satan quoted this verse and the next to our Savior, he left out "in all thy ways." He was urging Christ to go another way, the way of pride and sin.
A timid young minister had preached his first sermon on angles and thought he had made a failure. A few days later a frail old woman said to him, "I have been afraid for years, living alone away out there on the edge of town. But since hearing your sermon, I have no more fear. I just think of that text, 'The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them' " (Ps. 34:7).
We read of the guardian angels too: "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 18:10). The angel of the Lord delivered the apostle Peter from prison the night before his expected execution. An angel appeared to Paul at night on a stormy sea. An angel strengthened our Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane. And when He comes in glory, all the holy angels will be with Him (Matt. 16:27).
MEDITATION PRAYER: "For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone" (Ps. 86:10).
For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways (Ps. 91:11).
This is a wonderful promise text, even if the devil did try to twist it once to his own use (Luke 4:10). The whole angelic host is commissioned "to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation" (Heb. 1:14; cf. Gen. 28:12; Ps. 34:7; John 1:51).
To the Christian the ways of sin are not "thy ways." "Thy ways" are the paths of duty, as wise old Adam Clarke reminds us. We are to keep our own ways, not those of the flesh, the world, and the devil. We are to keep to the ways that God has appointed for us, and there He has promised to care for us. When Satan quoted this verse and the next to our Savior, he left out "in all thy ways." He was urging Christ to go another way, the way of pride and sin.
A timid young minister had preached his first sermon on angles and thought he had made a failure. A few days later a frail old woman said to him, "I have been afraid for years, living alone away out there on the edge of town. But since hearing your sermon, I have no more fear. I just think of that text, 'The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them' " (Ps. 34:7).
We read of the guardian angels too: "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 18:10). The angel of the Lord delivered the apostle Peter from prison the night before his expected execution. An angel appeared to Paul at night on a stormy sea. An angel strengthened our Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane. And when He comes in glory, all the holy angels will be with Him (Matt. 16:27).
MEDITATION PRAYER: "For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone" (Ps. 86:10).
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