Friday, January 30, 2009

Did Psalm 21 Save My Life in Moscow?

I was in Moscow a few years ago. I was all alone. I was sick. I needed to take some medicine, but not on an empty stomach. I needed to walk across Red Square to the food court. For some reason I was gripped with forboding fear, anxiety, so I read the Psalms. It was May 21, so I read Psalm 21. It's all about the protection and favor of God over the king. My soul was comforted so I put on my coat and walked across Red Square, saying hello to Lenin on the way. On the way back to the hotel a large wad of money, rubles and dollars, landed at my feet. Before I knew what was happening, a Russian man in broken English told me to keep quiet and he'd split the money with me. Suddenly, another man was in my face, screaming at me to return his lost money. I was paralyzed...do I tell the man that the other guy has his money? What would that guy do to me? Or, if I don't say anything and the guy who lost his money thinks I have it, what will HE do to me? I prayed. I looked into his eyes and said, "Pazhaloosta. Pazhaloosta! (which means please). He looked back at me and said, "It's OK, you can go." I got back to the hotel, met my Russian friends and they were shocked. I had been part of a Russian scam to rip off Westerners. The two men were working together and the scam usually gets ugly. They hadn't heard of a time when the "mark" had been let go. Then I went back to Psalm 21...I remembered verses 11-12--"Though they plan evil against you, though they devise mischief, they will not succeed.
For you will put them to flight; you will aim at their faces with your bows." Those men devised mischief against me; But when I looked into the face and eyes of the one man, his whole countenance and attitude changed...God aimed at their faces with His bows...and their mischief did not succeed. I'll never forget that day.

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