SCRIPTURE STUDY
Psalm 91
PRAYER FOCUS
Dear Jesus,
Help me to recognize Satan’s schemes and call on You to protect me. I know that You have promised to send your angelic hosts to guard my steps. I place my life in Your care.
Amen
BUG JITTERS
Bugs give me the willies. They always have. They always will. If I had my way, I’d strap a ten-pound can of Raid to my back and wear a pair of size thirteen stomping shoes for spider-smushing. My jungle-dwelling missionary friend Kristina was happily drying her post-shower behind when a tarantula the size of her head appeared on the dry side of her towel. Though she grew up in a conservative Baptist home, she learned to dance a mean jitter bug in her skivvies that morning. If I were in her shoes (or bare feet as the case may be) I’d be dead from heart failure. I haven’t even
mentioned the baby boa constrictor she found in her son’s closet!
There are no creepy crawlers in heaven. How do I know? Insects are of the Devil. Remember the Egyptian plagues and the locusts of Revelation? I rest my case. “Thus saith the Lord, ‘Neither buggeth, nor wormeth, nor roacheth nor spidereth shall inhabit my holy home.” 1 Julie 1:24. I believe Paul the apostle wrote something about dogs being in heaven and cats being in hell (although I’m not quite sure). I’m praying Effie my ferret out of purgatory. She was a biter.
Four-eyed entomologists swear that we need insects to balance the earth’s ecological system. They teach that Kermit the Frog and the Geico gecko would skip supper without a few fried flies and pickled potato bugs. Don’t worry about the amphibians. Let them check out the dollar menu at Taco Bell. If it’s good enough for Chihuahuas, it’s good enough for froggies. In my estimation, a bugless world is Utopia. No more fire ants will zap my ankles and torment my daughter’s pudgy dachshund Beauford. No cockroaches can infest my sugar bowl when I go on vacation. No mosquitoes an feast on my flab when I hike through the woods, and no ticks will torment my golden retriever when she forages through the oleanders. No centipedes can find refuge behind my guest room toilet on a hot June day and no desert scorpions will wag their stinger tails on my patio in devilish defiance.
Invisible pest predators are the worst. During my preschool summer days, chiggers infested the lush bermuda grass in
my backyard and took up residence between my toes. The more I scratched, the more they itched and scooted around
underneath the skin on my lumpy feet. Daddy said nail polish would suffocate the little boogers, but Mom disagreed and
washed me in a chigger soap that smelled like rotten eggs and black tar. The chiggers died but nobody would sit next to
me at Vacation Bible School. Tiny black ants surreptitiously invaded my chocolate chip cookies at the church picnic and
added extra zing to my red Kool Aid. The wicked stings of “no-see-‘ums” at the lake (Daddy didn’t know their proper
entomological classification) gave me welts on my posterior. Yes, the most irritating bugs were the ones you couldn’t see!
My abhorrence of all things “insectual” began at an early age. Elvis Tiggle lived two doors down and hoarded mayonnaise jars filled with nasty creepy critters. A wolf spider (not werewolf), a cricket (not Jiminy), a praying mantis (really an agnostic), a katydid ( oh, no she didn’t) and a beetle rounded off Elvis’ collection. Elvis’ mother bought him a set of pipe-cleaner antennae at the five-and-dime. He skulked around the neighborhood garages lurking in dark corners just waiting to pounce on unsuspecting little girls like me. I retaliated with a spray bottle of Windex. The goopy cleaner wasn’t poisonous, but it made his little antennae wilt and stick together. Elvis’ bug-bullying reached new heights when he was allowed to bring his monstrous arachnids to show and tell in second grade. Petula the tarantula appeared on top of my boiled carrots more than once. I swore off vegetables until Thanksgiving. Thank God Petula ignored my Three Musketeers!
My second grade teacher Mrs. Snyder assigned us partners to create an insect collection for science class. Elvis Tiggle was my partner. Why God, why? Couldn’t I have some dainty little girl who liked grasshoppers and butterflies? But God was on my side. I let Elvis grab all the bugs he liked. He gassed ‘em and speared ‘em. All I had to do was draw little nametags on post-it notes with magic marker and grab a frame at the drug store. It was such an easy “A” I picked Elvis again when it was time for frog-dissecting. I smiled behind my mask and stood a safe distance away while Elvis gleefully chopped up all the froggy guts. Our froggy croaked, but Elvis and I passed amphibian surgery with flying colors.
Ladybugs and doodle bugs were safe little girl insects. If you gently touch a doodle bug on his roly-poly black back, he’ll scrunch up into a little ball and roll down the sidewalk. Doodle bug marbles and doodle bug bowling were two favorite summer pastimes for my sister and me. However, my sister Kathy preferred lady bugs. Their bright red and black spotted shells made them fashion icons of the bug world. Florescent butterfly wings flapping in the breeze paled in comparison, fireflies glistening in the night sky were a “flash in the pan” but ladybugs were practically perfect in every way. Lulu, our favorite ladybug, minded her manners when she scuttled up Kathy’s forearm, tickling only a little bit. She didn’t even holler when my little sister pulled off a leg or two.
I hold the firm belief that most women marry for the sole purpose of having someone large and brave around to do all the cricket chasing and spider smashing. Men can also prove useful for light bulb screwing and pan scraping. Other than that, males are totally superfluous to our existence. The splat of a june bug flattened on my car is poetic justice for all the emotional trauma I have suffered from creepy crawlers through the years. I feel a sense of wicked exhilaration knowing that my windshield is the last thing going through his little june bug mind.
When I see something hairy or squiggly, I simply call my husband’s name and the “shoe fairy” rescues me from peril. He is my strong, brave Terminator. I shall fear no weevil.
Satanic attacks are often unexpected and invisible. They surreptitiously suck the fun out of life. Demon-bites of the enemy can get “under our skin” and cause us misery and fear. “Baal” in the Bible means “lord of the flies,” and the baals of Israel were the bane of their existence. We must put our own idols aside and find our rest and protection under the shelter of a powerful God who loves us and a Savior who has trampled Satan under His feet.
PSALM 91
“Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 This I declare of the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I am trusting him. 3 For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from the fatal plague. 4 He will shield you with his wings. He will shelter you with his feathers. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. 5 Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor fear the dangers of the day, 6 nor dread the plague that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday. 7 Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you. 8 But you will see it with your eyes; you will see how the wicked are punished. 9 If you make the LORD your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, 10 no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your dwelling. 11 For he orders his angels to protect you wherever you go. 12 They will hold you with their hands to keep you from striking your foot on a stone. 13 You will trample down lions and poisonous snakes; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet! 14 The LORD says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name. 15 When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue them and honor them. 16 I will satisfy them with a long life and give them my salvation.” NLT
List some occasions when you have experienced the protection of God. From what did He protect you? Did you find yourself under attack because of poor life choices or because of suffering for doing good? How do these verses address the fears you face? List some of the word pictures that are used in this psalm to describe perilous situations. What are God’s promises of deliverance and protection? List them here. Make a card of these promises and place them in your car and in your home.