EdG

<<One who expects the protection of God is required to: 1) dwell in the secret place of the Most High. Make El Elyon your home. 2) declare the Lord to be your own Refuge, Fortress, and God 3) trust in Him 4) seek Yahweh as your place of safety and El Elyon as your dwelling place>> I certainly agree, and I have recently experienced God's protection when our son got kidnapped and 3 days later safely released. But among the Christians here in Haiti, this brings us back to the reality that sometimes the "no evil shall befall you" (Ps 91:10) does not apply for some reason. Does that make God less faithful? Or (to respond to Q1 of this study) does this mean that the person involved did not dwell in the secret place of the Most High, or did not trust Him? Christians in Haiti, the family of the missionary couple that got killed in Irak, christian families in New Orleans who lost loved ones during the hurricane, the Jews during the Holocaust, and the list goes on... they all know that although we have all these promises from God, they simply do not always apply. Chadrac, Mesach and Abednego realized that when they refused to bow down for Nebucasnesar - they bluntly told the king that God could save them from the burning oven, but that even in case God would chose NOT to do so, they would still obey Him and thus not bow down for the king. Hebrews 11:36-39 also mentions clearly that sometimes the saints do NOT come out unharmed. So, yes, we must seriously consider what the Lord asks from us as our sovereign King, our loving Provider and our safe Fortress. And we must, yes MUST, give Him the glory when He choses to indeed deliver and protect us. But also, please realize that many of the people on this forum actually live in life-threatening situations, and some of them have seen "bad things happening to good people" - and then still have to keep living in the same life-threatening circumstances. I would encourage especially THOSE people to share the wonders of God as Fortress and Protector on this forum. I hope I am clear in my intentions. As English is not my first language, I have made mistakes before with wrong nuances in my overall tone. This was not meant as critique against the first posts, but rather an addition from a diffirent part of the world - not necessarily different in geographical position, but different in safety issues in daily life. As Dr Wilson already hinted in his intro " Unlike Europe and Asia, America has little history of refuges and fortresses". in love, EdG from Haiti