Psalm 91 Verse 3

Psalm 91:3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.

I love the first word in this verse, surely. Praise God, we can rely on the Word of God. God cannot lie. Surely He will deliver you. We can speak with confidence, “Surely He will deliver me.”

I have heard Christians say the devil told them something and they seem afraid or concerned about it. The devil is incapable of the truth; he is the father of lies and the truth is not in him. We are to silence him the same way Jesus did, with the truth, “Surely He will deliver me.”

Now let’s look at the phrase, the snare of the fowler, this is a picture of a person who catches birds in a baited trap. How does that relate to us? Again, let’s use scripture to develop this.

When Jesus said to His disciples in Luke 17:1, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come!” The Greek word here for offenses is “skandalon.” A skandalon is the trigger of a trap (the mechanism closing a trap down on the unsuspecting victim); it is used in scripture figuratively for an offense, a means of stumbling, a method of entrapment, an uneven ground which trips the traveler, putting a negative cause-and-effect relationship into motion. Unforgiveness* is one of the most common snares of the devil. He baits his trap with an offense and when the unsuspecting person takes the bait, he closes the trap.

Jesus is not saying it is impossible for us to not be offended, He is saying, in this life, opportunities to become offended will come your way. We do not have to take the bait, we do not have to enter the trap. Why? Because of our trust in the grace of God, surely He will deliver me. Every time the Holy Spirit guides us to forgive someone, He is delivering us from the snare of the fowler. He is showing us the way of escape.

With every temptation that comes our way, God has made a way of escape. Generally the way of escape comes through the Word of God. Jesus is our way of escape. Trust Him, ask Him for wisdom. Surely He will deliver you.

He has also delivered us from the perilous pestilence. The perilous pestilence is a destructive deadly disease or plague. We do not need to fear any disease. Jesus provided healing for us in every way.

1 Peter 2: 24 tells us [Jesus] Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. In this passage Peter is quoting Isaiah 53.

Isa 53:5 But He [Jesus] was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.

Don’t listen to the news and drug commercials telling you how many people will get sick or die, answer back, “It will not come near me, by Jesus stripes I was healed. Surely He will deliver me. He is my fortress, He is my refuge.”

*If you are interested in reading more on unforgiveness, download the pdf minibook, “Could I Have Unforgiveness.”