I'd argue that we should make the safety of others our goal, to forgive those who hurt us, and to love everyone, including our enemies. Loving our enemies doesn't mean we want to hang out with the creep upstairs who gooses women or sends them catcalls, or who steals from you, or murders your sister.

Love is expressed when we pray for people.

That's it. Nothing more or less than praying they find the grace of God before they die.

A thousand may fall at your side, but you will not die if you are a believer. That is because there is no death for believers, only transition to something better.

I am a bit of a universalist myself, so I'm not sure anybody really gets punished. Is it our fault if the biology in our brain goes haywire?

But if that's true, why bother expressing faith in God at all?

The reason is that daily communication with the Holy Spirit improves our decision making process and fills our hearts with love. Again, pretty simple. I've also found that asking for the full armor of God as expressed in Ephesians 6 really does work in my physical life here on earth. Eventually, when it is my time to be called to Heaven, it won't work. And that is still scary stuff to me, because it is an unknown.

That's why 91 is such an amazing psalm. It helps me gain more courage in the face of adversity, knowing that there is only one being who is truly capable of hurting me in a big way, and he simply won't do that.

In a sense, God is the only truly trustworthy being in the universe for that reason.

Thanks for your post, I love 91!