“Sickness and Death are Perpetually Undermining Our Lives” by Samuel Davies (1724 – 1761)

From “The Nature and Universality of Spiritual Death” by Samuel Davies

“My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber.
The Lord protects you; the Lord is a shelter right by your side.
The sun will not strike you by day, or the moon by night.
The Lord will protect you from all harm; He will protect your life.
The Lord will protect your coming and going, both now and forever!” Psalm 121

God is the guardian and deliverer of His people! From how many dangers has He preserved us! From how many calamities has He delivered us!

Dangers, Distresses and Deaths…

They crowd upon us and surround us in every age and every place! The air, the earth, the sea, and every element–are pregnant with numberless inlets of pain and death ready to seize and destroy us!

Sickness and Death…

They swarm around us!They lie in ambush in our own constitution.  Sickness and death are perpetually undermining our lives–and yet our divine Guardian preserves us for months and years unhurt, untouched. How many ‘salvations’ of this kind has He wrought for us! Salvations from…

• accidents,
• sicknesses,
• pains,
• sorrows, and
• death!

Salvations from seen and unseen dangers! Salvations in infancy, in youth, and in maturer years!

These things we cannot deny, without the most stupid ignorance, and an atheistic disbelief of divine Providence.

Sovereign Ruler of the Skies from Psalm 31:15

Sovereign Ruler of the skies,
Ever gracious, ever wise,
All my times are in Your hand,
All events at Your command!

His decree, who formed the earth,
Fixed my first and second birth;
Parents, native place, and time,
All appointed were by Him.

He who formed me in the womb,
He shall guide me to the tomb.
All my times shall ever be,
Ordered by His wise decree!

Times of sickness, times of health;
Times of poverty, and of wealth;
Times of trial, and of grief,
Times of triumph, and relief.

Plagues and death around me fly;
Till He bids, I cannot die!
Not a single shaft can hit,
Till the God of love sees fit!

O Thou Gracious, Wise and Just,
In Thy hands my life I trust:
Have I somewhat dearer still?
I resign it to Thy will.

May I always own Thy hand
Still to the surrender stand;
Know that Thou art God alone,
I and mine are all Thine own.

Thee, at all times, will I bless;
Having Thee, I all possess;
How can I bereaved be,
Since I cannot part with Thee?

— Words by John Ryland (1777)
— Music by William Henry Monk (1823–1889)

Psalm 91:3-7

“Surely He will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge;
His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear . . .
the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you!”

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