Psalm 91:1-13 (MSG)
91 1-13 You who sit down in the High God’s presence,
spend the night in Shaddai’s shadow,
Say this: “God, you’re my refuge.
I trust in you and I’m safe!”
That’s right—he rescues you from hidden traps,
shields you from deadly hazards.
His huge outstretched arms protect you—
under them you’re perfectly safe;
his arms fend off all harm.
Fear nothing—not wild wolves in the night,
not flying arrows in the day,
Not disease that prowls through the darkness,
not disaster that erupts at high noon.
Even though others succumb all around,
drop like flies right and left,
no harm will even graze you.
You’ll stand untouched, watch it all from a distance,
watch the wicked turn into corpses.
Yes, because God’s your refuge,
the High God your very own home,
Evil can’t get close to you,
harm can’t get through the door.
He ordered his angels
to guard you wherever you go.
If you stumble, they’ll catch you;
their job is to keep you from falling.
You’ll walk unharmed among lions and snakes,
and kick young lions and serpents from the path.

That’s right – he rescues you from hidden traps, shields you from deadly hazards. You’ll stand untouched, watch it all from a distance, watch the wicked turn into corpses.

Yeah, but how? As my hide is being beaten by the world, it sure doesn’t seem like this is a truth.

What is true is that we like to charge ahead with our own plans, putting God in the passenger seat (if we bring Him along at all) while we drive off a cliff. He lets us do it sometimes too. How come He doesn’t protect us from doing stupid things?

I think it’s more about that we don’t like consequences. We want to do what we want to do and we expect God to make the road smooth. I used to know why. Now I don’t.

In light of eternity though, it doesn’t matter. What happens to us here doesn’t matter. What we do here, the choices we make, do.
When we put Him in the driver’s seat, He is protecting us from making mistakes that have eternal consequences. He’ll let us crash and burn here on earth to help us draw nearer to Him. For our sake, we’re better passengers with God as the pilot than being the pilots. For eternity’s sake, we need to get in the back seat and let Him fly the plane. He can fly anything in any weather and get us there safely.

The challenges we face here will stay here. We don’t take them with us if we are allowed into God’s presence (yes, that only happens through Christ). Eternity changes everything.