These Evils Shall Not Come Nigh Thee

I came home from Rose for Thanksgiving Break on Thursday afternoon. It is very good to be home again. I really love my family, and it is always just great to come home.

After a delicious dinner of Jamaican-style rice and peas (photo, recipe) by my Mom, followed by Indonesian-style ketan (sweet/sticky rice) for dessert, my parents had some news to share with me. They had opted not to tell me sooner because they did not want it to disrupt my studies.

My next door neighbor — for whom I had worked lawn for a few summers in high school; who started a local pizza chain; a generally great, friendly, thoughtful guy; a husband, father, and grandfather — had committed suicide. Needless to say, I was shocked. My parents had spoken with him only a week prior, and he’d said everything was going well: his business was improving, his family was doing well, things were good. Well, after the tragedy, my parents found out from his widow that there had been a series of signs that, in retrospect, betrayed his inner struggles. My condolences go out to his family and friends.

While any suicide is traumatic for those who knew the person, two suicides a mere week apart hits even harder. While I only now learned of my neighbor’s death, there was another suicide: a friend who lived on my floor when I was a Sophomore Advisor at Rose-Hulman committed suicide on what turned out to be only the 5th day after my neighbor had done the same.

As I thought of these four deaths of the past 7 months, each of which came as a great surprise, I was nearly overwhelmed. First, my uncle died of a nurse’s mistake while in the hospital. Then our Father called my sister home suddenly only 3 weeks after that. And then the two suicides. “What is with all this death?!” I wondered.

I haven’t even told you of the other deaths on my mind at the time. The best friend of a member in my home church was shot to death last month. The brother-in-law of one of my brother’s friends from his church died in a car crash this week.

I’d never known anybody who had died, nor known anybody who’d been directly affected by death until this year. Is it only as I become more aware of the world around me that I pay attention to these deaths? It really just seems like death is starting to fall around me, at various distances, of course.

Then God took my mind back to a verse I memorized in sixth grade: “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.” Whether or not you agree that the verse applies to the situation of death seemingly falling all around me is inconsequential. Recalling that verse led me back to the chapter in which it is found: Psalm 91.

I read through Psalm 91 and was struck by how relevant it is to me as I ponder the deaths in the last 7 months. I wanted to take the time to write all this down so that you, too, may be comforted and strengthened by the promises therein.

1 Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
     will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 This I declare about the Lord:
  He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
     he is my God, and I trust him.
3 For he will rescue you from every trap
     and protect you from deadly disease.
4 He will cover you with his feathers.
     He will shelter you with his wings.
     His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
5 Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
     nor the arrow that flies in the day.
6 Do not dread the disease 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 Just open your eyes,
     and 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 home.
11 For he will order his angels
     to protect you wherever you go.
12 They will hold you up with their hands
     so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
13 You will trample upon lions and cobras;
     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 and honor them.
16 I will reward them with a long life
     and give them my salvation.”

Psalm 91 (NLT)

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.