How can Psalm 91:7-8 be True While Bad Things Happen to Righteous People

Many Christians find comfort in these words from the Psalmist, but may not fully understand Their meaning,

A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked. Psalm 91:7-8 NKJV

I have had people ask me why their loved one died of COVID while claiming this Bible promise. Why does God allow Christians to die in terrorist attacks? Doesn’t this Psalm say a thousand may fall or even ten thousand, but it won’t come near you?

Yes, it does, but it also goes on to say that we will only see the reward of the wicked. COVID as well as terrorist attacks are not a judgment on the wicked. There is a difference between suffering the consequences of sin and suffering the reward of the wicked, or the judgment of the wicked.

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In Matthew 5:45 Jesus tells us that the rain and sunshine fall on both the good and the bad. That is all just a part of life. Well, it’s also a part of our character development. The point is that both rain and sunshine are just the consequences of living in a sinful world, but not a direct judgment. In John 9:2-3 the disciples asked if a certain man was born blind because of his own sin or his parents. For some reason, it just makes us feel better if we assure ourselves that the person suffering somehow deserved it. That way we don’t have to question the mercy and justice of God. But Jesus said the man’s blindness was not a judgment against him or his parents. We live in a sinful world where bad things just happen. Even through all of this, God’s goodness can still be seen, just like Jesus healing the blind man in John 9.

When COVID first came on the scene someone asked me if this was the beginning of the last plagues in Revelation. I told them no. First of all, no plague describes COVID. Second, the last plagues fall on those who have the mark of the beast. See Revelation 16:2. Right now, no one has the mark of the beast, and therefore no one is currently suffering from any of the 7 last plagues of Revelation.

Like the plagues in Exodus which fell on the Egyptians but not on any of the Israelites, the 7 last plagues only fall on the wicked. Like the plagues in Exodus, the 7 last plagues are a judgment from God on the wicked. See Revelation 16:7. I was intrigued the other day, when my father pointed out as we studied the Sabbath School lesson over the phone, that in Exodus 9:29, Moses walks out of the city before stopping the hailstorm. This meant that Moses walked through the hailstorm as he left the city, totally unscathed. This is where Psalm 91:7-8 applies. The Psalmist tells us we will not experience the reward of the wicked. While assuring us of God’s protection throughout the Psalms, the Psalmist never promises us that we will not experience any of the consequences of living in a sinful world. The Psalmist only assures us that the righteous will not experience any of the direct judgments of God on the wicked.

Just as Lot and his family were saved from the direct judgments on Sodom and Gomorrah, the righteous will be saved from the direct judgments on the wicked. Amos 3:7 tells us that God does nothing without first telling his prophets, and the direct judgments on the wicked always come with plenty of warning first. Noah preached long before the flood. Jonah warned all of Ninevah. Likewise, in Revelation 14:9-12 God has a people who will warn the world not to take the mark of the beast long before it becomes a test.

According to Revelation 16:2, the 7 last plagues will only fall on those who have the mark of the beast. This is where the promise of Psalm 91:7-8 applies. Sure, Psalm 91 applies wherever a direct judgment from God occurs. Psalm 91:8 clearly says it is the reward of the wicked that the righteous will not experience. Meanwhile, the sunshine and rain Jesus mentioned in Matthew 5:45, which are not direct judgments on the wicked, happen to both the good and the bad as a part of life.